Born To Rule The World
by Jade-Rose
Summary: As the son of Madame Boss, the destiny of Giovanni was always clear. But being the son of a powerful crime boss did not make for an easy life. [Complete]
1. Part One

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, blah blah blah. You all know the rest._

_Author's Note: As this is a parallel story, it doesn't matter whether you read this first or "Lady In Red", but for a more chronological look at events, start with that story. There is also a third story, "Rocket Child" that is currently a WIP._

* * *

**Born To Rule The World**

**Part One**

"I have decided that my son needs some extra training with regards to his handling of Pokemon. You shall instruct him in battle techniques, teach him each Pokemon's power and behaviour. In short, you shall bring him up to a standard which someone of his eventual position should be."

I cringed inwardly at this. My parents, or rather my mother, had sent me to the Pokemon Technical Institute to get me into the Pokemon League without having to send me out on a badge-collecting journey. I would have far rather done that than be stuck at that stupid school, but she ignored both my protests and those of my father. It would be too risky to let me go, was the excuse. I was never the world's best trainer to start with, but being at the Tech didn't help that. I started off well enough, but during my first year boredom finally won through, and I failed. So I had to repeat the year. When my parents read my end of year report, they were disappointed to see that I had failed the class again, doing even worse than I had the first time. Actually, disappointed was the wrong word. My mother was furious, far angrier than I could ever remember her being towards me. My father had to calm her down before the matter could be discussed further, the result of which was the decision that I was to be given tuition during the holidays until I improved drastically. That meant that the holiday by the sea I had been looking forward to was out of the question. I let out a small sigh and shuffled slightly. My mother had made me stand beside her, as she made the two people in front of her stand too. I looked at them from under a thick forelock of hair that insisted on flopping in front of my eyes. Two members of the elite team, a man and a woman. My mother meant business, though that didn't surprise me. She spoke to them again.

"You will start tomorrow morning. You can use the old training gym. Any questions?"

"No ma'am," they replied in unison. Stupid thing for my mother to ask, I thought. You didn't question her, you did as she asked.

"You may go," she told them. They nodded, and left the office. My mother turned to me.

"Those are two of my best agents. You are to do as they say. I will be asking them to update me regularly on your progress. Of course, I hope that there is going to be some progress from you. Do I make myself clear, Giovanni?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes mother."

"One day you will take over as head of Team Rocket from me. When you do, you need to be able to take over whatever projects happen to be running at the time, and to do that you need to posses a lot of knowledge of Pokemon. And a qualification that gives you league status will also be very useful. I know that you are only thirteen, and these prospects seem distant and uninteresting to you but one day you will thank me for them."

"I'll never be any good. That's what all the other kids say to me," I said, forlornly. For the first time my mother seemed to realise that I was upset about my progress at school too, for she stood up and placed her hands on my shoulders.

"Well you'll just have to show them otherwise, won't you? If I thought that too I wouldn't be asking my best agents to teach you," she said. "You're an intelligent child, and are perfectly capable of it." She smiled at me, and then looked at her watch.

"I've got to go to a meeting now. I'll see you at dinner." We both left the office, and set off in different directions.

The next morning seemed to arrive too fast. Reluctantly, I dragged myself down to eat some breakfast, then made my way, with my mother, over to where the training gym was. The two agents were there already.

"How long are we to keep him for?" asked the man.

"Until lunchtime, Xan." replied my mother, then she left. I stood in silence, not really knowing what to say. Xan started things off.

"So, let's get the introductions done," he said. "I'm Xan, and this is Miyamoto."

"Just call me Miya," Miyamoto smiled at me.

"I'm Giovanni," I said, though they probably knew that already. "Are you two partners?" Miyamoto shook her head.

"No. My partner is Cal."

"Mine's Dahlia," said Xan. The names of their partners meant no more to me than theirs did. I eyed Xan warily. He was well over six foot tall and built like a tank. Though he wasn't old, his short hair was white, making his dark eyes piercing. Miyamoto on the other hand, was slender and about average height. Purple hair framed her eyes, which were a vivid blue-green. She flexed her fingers.

"Well, shall we start?" she said. Xan nodded.

"Okay Gio, let's see what Pokemon you have." I knew that he expected me to have several, but he was going to be disappointed. I took my only Pokeball out of my pocket and tossed it onto the floor. A second later, my Krabby stood in front of us, snapping its claws.

"That's all I have," I said. Both Xan and Miyamoto were surprised.

"Only one?" said Xan.

"Just because my mum runs Team Rocket doesn't mean I get loads of Pokemon given to me," I said defiantly. "Anyway, I wasn't given Krabby."

"You caught it?"

"Yes. Last year on holiday. But I wish I hadn't because I might have been given a better Pokemon for Christmas that year. Mum said that seeing as I had Krabby there was no need to give me another Pokemon because I could now get my own." I explained.

"Lesson number one. No Pokemon is useless," said Miyamoto, kneeling down by Krabby.

"This one is," I said. "All it can do is blow bubbles." As if to prove my point, Krabby happily blew a stream of bubbles towards me. Miyamoto took hold of one of its claws and looked at it, opening and shutting it, then did the same with the other. She seemed satisfied and stood up.

"Well there's nothing wrong with it, except it's a bit on the small side but it should grow the more you battle with it."

"I don't battle with it because it's weak," I said. A moment later I wished I hadn't opened my mouth because the next thing I knew was a pain in my left leg. I yelled and shook Krabby off. Xan shook his head in disbelief while Miyamoto picked Krabby up. I looked at her, amazed. If I tried to do that with Krabby, all I got was a pinch.

"Don't you know anything about Pokemon?" asked Xan. I was embarrassed.

"Of course I do! But if you were stuck in that stupid Pokemon Tech for most of the year you wouldn't care about doing well either!" I cried. Xan looked at Miyamoto then back at me.

"Right. Let's forget about school. You're not there now." I looked away, scowling.

"You're twelve, aren't you? If we…" said Miyamoto.

"Thirteen. My birthday was last week," I interrupted. Miyamoto nodded and continued.

"If we can get you up to a good standard you'll be out of the Tech in only three years. But only if you are prepared to do some work. Are you going to do that, or do we have to tell your mother this is a waste of time?" That idea terrified me more than Xan did.

"Okay, I'll work at it," I muttered. Miyamoto handed Krabby back to me. Xan threw a pokeball onto the ground, and out came a Caterpie.

"This should be an easy match for you," he said. I laughed.

"Just a bit," I said.

Well, I did win one match. I knew that I really needed more Pokemon though. Maybe I could persuade my mother to give me some by asking Xan and Miyamoto to tell her I needed to borrow some Pokemon out of the collection to aid my tuition. I proposed this to them when we took a break.

"You tell her. She's your mother," said Miyamoto.

"Go out and catch some yourself," said Xan. "That's how everyone else does it." Again, I was stung by their crispness, but I suppose that's because I wasn't used to other people talking to me like that within the Team Rocket circle. Other people went out of their way to make sure they said the correct things to me, like I was some kind of royalty just because my mother was the boss. Xan and Miyamoto didn't seem to care about that, they were here to teach me and if they had to yell at me, then they were going to do it. Though it made me embarrassed when they did, I couldn't help but like them for it. They treated me like I was a normal person.

"How long have you been in Team Rocket for?" I asked them.

"Let's see…I joined when I was sixteen…so I've been here for about two years," said Miyamoto. Again she surprised me. I thought she was older than that.

"You must be good if you're in the elite team after two years," I said. She shrugged and smiled at me as if she didn't care.

"Miya could win the Pokemon League if she hadn't joined here," said Xan, giving her a friendly poke. Miyamoto rolled her eyes.

"Don't be silly Xan, I'm not that good. Anyway, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for people constantly telling me I could win the Pokemon League."

"Yeah, but your little act of rebellion got you stuck for life," said Xan.

"You're here too," she retorted, though not in an angry way.

"What about you, Xan?" I asked.

"I've been here a while now, since I was fifteen. Had nowhere else to go. It's not that bad here; I guess you don't notice it after nine years. Though a pay rise would be nice." He grinned at the last bit.

"Sorry I can't do anything about that," I smiled.

"Well one day you'll be able to, right?" said Xan. I shrugged.

"Yeah, one day," I said, unenthusiastically. Xan raised an eyebrow.

"Like that is it?" he said.

"Sometimes I wish I had been born into a different family," I told them.

"I think we all wish that at times," said Miyamoto.

"Make the most of your time before you become in charge," said Xan. "I mean, that could be years, couldn't it?"

"I hope it is," I said.

The holidays seemed to fly by. My mother had declined my request for some more Pokemon as I had expected, but Miyamoto and Xan let me battle with theirs. Though they both still beat me in battle more than I beat them, I was improving all the time, and so was Krabby. It even grew a little, and no longer tried to attack me. I suppose that was because I'd stopped insulting it. I was sorry to be at the end of the training sessions, for I now enjoyed them. I counted Xan and Miyamoto now as two of my few friends. By the end of the summer, I don't think we worked as hard as my mother would have liked, but it was enough. They spent more time talking about the missions they had been on. In some ways I envied them. Life as a member of Team Rocket wasn't easy, even at the top, but they got to travel around and see places. I didn't get to see much of the world, unless we were on holiday, for I was either in boarding school or living here at the Headquarters. My mother would never let me go on a mission either, certainly not a decent one in case something happened and I was seriously hurt or didn't come back. That's why she wouldn't let me go on a Pokemon Journey. It wasn't because of her love as a mother that she protected me, it was because I was a valuable asset to her empire. Tomorrow I was back at school. I wished I didn't have to go back, but at least I had something to look forward to. My mother was pleased with the way things had gone and was going to have Xan and Miyamoto train me more. Not for the first time I stood in front of my bedroom mirror and flexed the muscles in my arms. There was a faint bulging of a bicep which pleased me, though I had a long way to go to get anywhere near Xan. I pulled on a T-shirt and made a face at myself in the mirror. At least if I became the boss I could do as I pleased. I quite liked that idea.

* * *

I had no problem now with the Pokemon side of my schooling now. Xan and Miyamoto had kindly lent me a couple of their Pokemon and my teachers were full of praise for me.

"You must have worked so hard during the holidays," gushed one.

"Not really," I lied. I was still bored stupid most of the time, and had taken to spending most of my free time alone practising on the simulators. The simulators at the Tech were pretty crap compared to some of the stuff back home. I don't know how my mother managed to get some of the equipment for it was unlike anything the majority of technology was at the moment. Only the top agents got to use it, though Xan told me that some of my mother's so-called thugs were trained on it too. I was surprised my mother didn't have Xan as one of the thugs; his physique would suggest he would be perfect for it, but as usual, she would have her reasons. I jabbed at the controls of the simulator, and won again. I looked out of the window and in the distance saw a group of students huddled in a group. Someone was being 'helped' in their studies. I was glad it wasn't me now. They left me alone now I wasn't bottom of the class. Didn't mean I rushed out to help whoever was going through it now though. That would probably only make them turn on me again. I have some friends here, but no one would go against the top pupils. Most of them were the children of business people, put through various Pokemon pre-schools before they were sent here in the hope that they would become great Pokemon Masters and give mummy and daddy something else to boast about. They were therefore absolutely clueless about anything but Pokemon and money, which only made their obnoxiousness more apparent. My family was rich too, from the money made through Team Rocket, but at least I knew that life didn't orbit a Pokeball. My father came from a reasonably well off family, but my mother grew up in poverty. But not everyone here comes from a rich background. Some have parents who have saved money for them to come here since they were born. A couple of my friends were in that situation. They don't have much, but are far nicer than the snobby teachers pets. I hope I'm out of here in three years like Miyamoto said I would be. The bell went, and I turned away from the window. I had a lesson to get to on battle techniques. I smiled to myself and took out Krabby's Pokeball. Today we were specialising in water Pokemon.

After the Christmas holidays, I had only been back for a couple of weeks when I was summoned home again. My grandfather had died though I don't think I was too surprised because he had been quite ill when I had last seen him. Still, it upset me because I liked my grandfather. He'd been there all my life for though he had given control of Team Rocket to my mother when I was little, he still ran the laboratories and lived in a little apartment that was attached to our house. Even when he was busy, he would always make time for me, which is more than my mother does. I could go down to the labs to see him whenever I wished, and he'd always have something like a chocolate bar to give me which I ate while he explained the experiment he was running at the time to me. I was a bit apprehensive at the funeral because I had never been to one before. I quickly began to wish I hadn't been next to my aunt. She didn't stop crying once all the way though, and that unsettled me more than the fact that my grandfather was dead. My mother, in complete contrast to my aunt, remained composed. Her eyes, for the most part, remained shadowed by her hat, so the only betrayal of emotion I saw was a bite of her lip. As usual, she was dressed perfectly, not a hair out of place. Black suit, black hat, long black coat, black scarf tucked neatly round her neck. Outside in the snow, with her long black hair falling down her back, adding to the effect, she could have passed for a film star. The funeral itself passed in a kind of blur. Afterwards we went to some place for food where I occupied myself by eating loads to fill the boredom caused by so many adults talking about grown up things. That was probably the first time I was properly aware of the kind of people my mother dealt with – mostly men who wore dark glasses even though it was the middle of winter. They created a general air of suspicion amongst each other that hung in the background. I watched my mother as she talked to them. A tight smile, very polite, very direct. I was glad when we could go back home.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two **

Another year at school had finished, and again I was waiting for my exam results. I prayed that it would be third time lucky for me, for I couldn't bear the thought of my mother raging at me again like she had last year. But before I would know my results, my birthday came along. Amongst my presents was a brand new bike from my parents, one of those posh ones with about six million gears. After lunch, I tried it out, cycling round the grounds of the house. It was hard at first for it was a lot bigger than my old one, but I soon got the hang of it. I made my way towards the headquarters and the training facilities, the plan being to sneak out of the entrance there and go into the forest and ride along some of the trails. Suddenly, an Ivysaur bounded across my path. I braked sharply and looked round for its owner. To my surprise, I saw Xan coming towards me. He called the Ivysaur back.

"Hi Gio. New bike?" I hated being called Gio - at school I had heard the "Hey Gio, dude" joke enough to last me for the rest of my life, but I had at first been too scared of Xan to correct him, so it had stuck.

"It was a birthday present from my parents. I didn't know you had an Ivysaur."

"I caught it the other day. Needs quite a bit of training. Every time I let it out of its Pokeball it runs off," Xan sighed. "Anyway, I'm glad to run into you."

"Why?"

"Because it's your birthday, and I have something for you," Xan said. He produced a Pokeball and gave it to me.

"A Pokemon?" I said, surprised.

"It's another one I caught recently, and I don't really need it, so I thought I may as well give it to you," he replied. "Open it up then." I threw the Pokeball onto the ground, wondering what would come out.

"Machop!"

"Great!" I exclaimed, and laughed as the Machop flexed its arms and performed a couple of somersaults.

"It's a good one, I think it'll be quite powerful if you train it properly," Xan said. "And speaking of training, when are we due to restart your lessons?"

"Next week, after I get my results."

"Think you've done okay?"

"I think I did better than before, yes." The Machop jumped up onto the handlebars of my bike.

"Chop, Machop!"

"Think it wants a ride on your bike," laughed Xan. I smiled.

"Well, I'll see you next week sometime."

"Okay, have fun before the hard work begins," Xan said.

"Thank you for the Machop," I said, over my shoulder, and set off again, the Machop still sat on my handlebars. When I got home, my mother didn't seem too surprised that Xan had given me a Pokemon. I expected her to moan about it, seeing as she refused to give me any at all, but she just said "That was nice of him," and left it at that. She was a lot more vocal about my exam results though. She made me sit with her and my father while she read them and my end of year report. I watched her nervously, remembering what had happened last year.

"Well, that's a lot better Giovanni," she said when she finished, and smiled. She passed the report over to my father, and I peered over his shoulder so I could see too. I had done best in my two practical exams, though the three written ones were not too bad.

"Why you couldn't have just done it the first time round…still, this was your third time, so you should have passed. It will be interesting to see how you do next year," she added.

"Don't discredit him," my father said. "At least it's over with now."

"For the moment. I will speak to Xan and Miyamoto later to tell them when to start tuition again." She turned back to me. "Do you have any idea of what you will be doing next year?"

"Jack says it's similar to this year, but harder. You spend more time doing practical lessons, and some of your total marks are gained from assessment rather than all exams. There's still a written exam at the end which is supposed to be really hard," I replied. Jack was one of my friends who had started at the same time as me. He had failed the beginners class first time round too, but unlike me had passed the second time, and had spent the year in the intermediate class. I should phone him later to find out how he had done.

"Sounds a lot more interesting," my father said. I nodded. My father was one of those people who believed learning should be fun, which was one of the reasons he didn't want me to go to the Tech. He had argued with my mother for weeks over the matter, and only gave in because the atmosphere became unbearably poisonous. Unlike the majority of people, he was never afraid to stand up to my mother, but even he had to back down for the sake of a quiet life. As soon as he did, my mother became all sweetness and light again, and the poisonous cloud evaporated overnight. I think father despairs of her sometimes. I know my grandfather did.

"Your mother," he used to say to me, "is too single-minded for her own good." He would then sigh and ramble off on some tale. I looked over at her.

"You'd better get some more Pokemon then," she said. I shrugged, then smiled.

"You could always give me some," I said.

"It's not like they're all needed," said my father. My mother shook her head.

"Giovanni gets his Pokemon like all trainers do. He goes and catches them," she said, as usual.

Later that week I fulfilled her wishes. Xan and Miyamoto had taken me into Viridian Forest along a trail that wasn't used very often to see if there was anything to capture. I came back with a Rattata. Not what would have been my first choice, but I was still full of pride. When I got back home, I went straight over to the labs to find my father. He looked after them now my grandfather was no longer around. He used to work for my grandfather in the days when Team Rocket was a little government project, which is how he met my mother. I found him in his office, immersed in some work. He only noticed me when I shoved the Pokeball under his nose. He looked up sharply, but smiled when he saw it was me.

"What's this?" he asked, setting his pen down on the desk.

"A Pokemon I just caught," I replied, and tossed the ball on the ground. The beam of energy materialised into the Rattata. My father laughed.

"I wouldn't let your mother see that," he said.

"Why not?" I asked, puzzled. My father leaned forwards, resting on his forearms.

"She's absolutely terrified of them," he said, a gleam in his eyes.

"Really?" I said, interested in this development. Mysterious men in dark glasses didn't faze her, but a little Rattata did? I grinned mischievously.

"But don't tell her I told you," father smiled at me.

"I have to show it her," I said, innocently enough.

"Of course you do. She's always moaning that you don't catch any Pokemon, and she's always interested in your achievements," he replied, in the same innocent manner as me. We both snickered.

"Sir." We turned round to see a young technician standing in the doorway.

"What is it?" my father asked.

"I need you to come and look at the results of this test," the technician replied. My father sighed then stood up. I called back my Rattata and followed my father out of the office.

"I'll see you later," he said to me. I nodded and left the labs. I was disappointed when I showed the Rattata to my mother and she didn't do anything other than whinge about it being covered in germs, so I decided to try something different. I put it in my parent's bed, and couldn't have hoped for better results. Okay, so I got my allowance stopped, but it was worth it. I don't think Xan and Miya really believed that my mother had let out a scream that would have frightened a Gyrados away, but it didn't matter. For once I got the better of Miya during battle, which is nothing small. It was easy to see why she was my mother's best agent. I wondered what had driven her away from what would have so easily been a glittering career as an eventual Pokemon Master, and into Team Rocket. I got the feeling she didn't really wish to talk about her past. When it came to Pokemon or missions however, she was lively and recalled each account with humour. She taught me some little magic tricks she had picked up from somewhere, like making coins disappear then reappearing behind an ear or suchlike. I tried them out on Jack when I went to stay with him. I knew I had to get rid of the Rattata somehow before my mother found it, and he agreed to swap my Rattata for his Spearow. He tried to get me to swap for his Magikarp, but I wouldn't have it. The Spearow was tricky to handle, and nearly took an eye out the first time I tried to show it to Xan. He managed to calm it down into a reasonable state for me.

"A Pidgey or Pidgeotto would have been better if you wanted a bird Pokemon," he said.

"Jack didn't have one. It was either that or a Magikarp," I replied. Miya thought Spearows were evil.

"It's not," I said.

"Well it looks it," she said, folding her arms. She seemed a bit huffy that day.

"Women's stuff," Xan whispered to me. I didn't know too much about girls, but I kind of worked out what he was talking about. My father often muttered about the same thing with reference to my mother. I was glad I wasn't a girl.

By the end of the summer we got the Spearow in good shape, which was just as well because the level of skill needed in the intermediate class at the Tech was at least double that needed in the beginners. But I had plenty of confidence now, and determination. Soon enough, the Christmas holidays came along. My father took me into Viridian City to force me to do some shopping.

"I don't know what to buy anyone," I complained. "Do I have to buy something for Aunt Minty? It's not like we see her often."

"We'll be seeing her over Christmas," my father replied.

"I don't know what to get mum."

"Look and see if you spot something that stands out."

"I hate shopping."

"It's not my idea of fun either, Gi. If we can get it done today, then we won't have to think about it again, will we?"

"I suppose so," I sighed. It was selfish, but I'd rather spend my money on myself. My aunt was fairly straightforward to buy for. So was my father. Finding something for my mother took ages, for both of us. Between us we decided on some very expensive earrings and necklace, to be from my father, and a beautifully decorated vase that would be my present. Christmas cheer didn't get through to my mother though. She wouldn't stop nagging at me to do stupid, boring things, like tidying my room.

"One more thing," she said, before leaving for work to tidy up some stuff before Christmas. "Don't go out into the forest today. It's going to snow heavily, and there's going to be high winds. Okay?"

"Okay," I snapped back, my mood made worse by the tone she took with me. "I'm not a baby."

"Stop acting like one then," she retorted. After she had gone, I moped about the house, bored. My father had no need to go over to the laboratories, but still had some things to do, and didn't want to be disturbed. Not even Machop could cheer me up. I put it back in its Pokeball and rested my head in my hands, looking out of my bedroom window. My room faced away from the direction of the Headquarters, which was obscured from our home by a thick line of trees. Instead, I had a view of Viridian Forest and the hills beyond. Under the ever-darkening sky they looked more tempting than ever. I left my room and made my way downstairs and got my coat. I stuck my head round the door of the study. My father was engrossed in some book about Pokemon genetics and was a million miles away.

"Dad!" I said sharply. He stirred out of his reverie and looked at me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm going out," I said to him.

"Where?" he asked, returning to his book.

"Over to the gym. My Pokemon could do with some exercise," I replied. He just nodded slightly, not really paying attention to what I was saying. My father was a quiet man, yet extremely intelligent. He spent much of his spare time reading huge books on genetics and biology, all of which went towards his research into Pokemon. Of course, most of his work went into Team Rocket long before he published it for the outside world. I closed the door behind me and made my way out down the drive, noticing that it had started snowing. On impulse, I ran across the road into the forest, hoping no one saw me. The trees should shelter me from the worst of the snow. I wasn't sure really where I wanted to go. I found the trail that Xan and Miya had taken me down a few times in the summer. I must have been walking for about quarter of an hour when to my surprise, a Geodude wandered across my path. I wondered what it was doing in the middle of a forest, and looked round to see if I could see anyone following it. There wasn't, so I took out a Pokeball. I remembered how much I wanted a Golem. The Geodude just looked at me then turned and headed off deeper into the forest.

"Hey!" I called, and ran after it, going off the trail. I followed it for some way until I reached a clearing and lost sight of it. Here the snow was slowly piling up on the forest floor. I trudged through it to the other side, then saw the Geodude again.

"Okay," I said, out of breath. "I'm not running after you anymore. Krabby, water gun!" The Geodude turned to flee again, but before it could, Krabby blasted a stream of water towards the Geodude and caught it square in the back. The force sent the rock Pokemon crashing into a tree, and it lay there, dazed, but not defeated. I ran up to where it was trying to get up. I swapped Krabby for Machop.

"Machop, seismic toss," I ordered. Machop took the Geodude by one of its arms and threw it up in the air, only for it to come crashing down heavily. Now it was completely out of action. I threw an empty Pokeball at it, and watched with pleasure as the Geodude was drawn inside and the Pokeball snapped shut. I went and picked it up. The tree had made it into an easy victory, but I was still elated.

"Yes!" I said, delighted, and then remembered Machop. "Well done Machop. Return." As I stood there surveying the two Pokeballs in my hand, it suddenly struck me how dark it was. Worse still, I realised I was completely lost. All I could hear was the wind rustling the trees. It sounded pretty strong. I managed to retrace my steps back to the clearing, but had no idea where to go from there. If it was bright daylight, I might have been okay, but the darkness and the now swirling snow made it impossible for me to tell which direction to go in. I couldn't stay where I was for there was no shelter, and I was getting soaked from the snow falling onto me. I had not much choice other than to head back deeper into the forest and hope that I came across a road. I couldn't be that far from home.

A few hours later, after wandering round in what seemed to be circles, and getting wet through from falling into a stream, then muddy from slipping down a small escarpment, I huddled under a bush, cold, hungry and exhausted. Now it was pitch black. It would be best if I stayed here now. The wind couldn't get to me. Why couldn't it have been a Charmander that I caught? At least I would have been warm if nothing else. I nestled my head as far down into my coat as I could. Was this what it was like being one of my mother's field agents? Hopefully there was someone looking for me, for my mother was probably home by now. I was probably going to be in for it when I got back. If I got back. I was terrified, but wouldn't have admitted it to anyone if they had been here with me. At least this time of year was too cold for Beedrills to be out. I sighed, and thought of my nice warm bed. Then I thought of Xan and Miyamoto. I wished they had been with me when I caught Geodude. I hadn't seen either of them since I came home. With these thoughts in my head, I somehow managed to doze off. I think I kept waking up, but the next thing I was properly aware of was someone standing over me. I blinked, realising it was daylight.

"I've found him!" said the person above me. I struggled to sit up, but my whole body seemed to have a different mind of its own. A second person came into view.

"Oh Giovanni!" they exclaimed. It was Miya! She knelt beside me and helped me sit up.

"You're freezing. What on earth are you doing out here?" she asked, and turned to Cal. "Get your Charmeleon out. We can use its tail flame to warm him." Cal did as she asked, and soon I began to get some feeling back into my fingers. Miya hugged me close to her, rubbing my back to try and warm me up.

"Your mother's had half the personnel at the base out looking for you," said Cal in a short manner. I coughed, which was followed by a sneeze.

"She has?" I said, surprised, then I remembered something. "I caught a Geodude. That's how I got lost."

"What made you want to go out in a snowstorm anyway?" Miyamoto asked, seeming to ignore my achievement. I suppose she was more concerned about my well being. I shrugged, and sneezed again.

"We'd better get you home," said Cal. He and Miyamoto helped me to my feet, but my legs still refused to obey me. Miyamoto held me up while Cal called back his Charmeleon and brought out an Arcanine. Between them, Miyamoto and Cal heaved me onto its back so I was sitting on it as you would a Ponyta. Then we set off home. It turned out that I was only about thirty-five minutes walk away. Outside of the forest, snow lay in a thick blanket, and by the look of the sky, it was going to snow some more. My father was waiting at the gate of the drive to our home for news and came straight over as we approached. He looked like he hadn't slept much.

"Where was he?" he asked as we made our way to our house.

"About half an hour away under a bush," said Cal, helping me off Arcanine.

"Your mother and I have been out of our minds with worry," my father glared at me, and I looked away, unable to meet his piercing blue eyes. Though he rarely raised his voice, he had this way of looking at you that even made my mother look away. If he ever lost his temper it meant something had really upset him. I could sense some guilt in his voice. My mother had probably raged at him during the past night.

"Don't be too hard on him, Sir. He's had a long night in the cold," said Miya, her hand resting comfortingly on my shoulder. My father nodded, his initial anger subsiding.

"I know. Thank you for finding him." He took my arm. "Let's get you inside."

"I'll come and see you soon," Miya called after me. I managed to turn and smile at her. I could hardly walk still and I think I had cut my knees, probably when I fell down the escarpment. My father didn't say anything else to me. We entered the house, and made our way through to the living room where my mother was pacing up and down. Her face was pale, and she looked as tired as my father, maybe more so. I'll never forget the look of relief on her face as she almost ran over to me and wrapped me in a tight hug, not caring that I was covered with mud. I hugged her back, too surprised to do anything else. I had expected her to yell at me.

"What did I tell you?" she sighed, then looked at me, her deep brown eyes somewhat sorrowful. "Why didn't you listen to me?" I looked back at my father, then at her and felt awful.

"I'm sorry," was all I could offer. She took my coat off for me and handed it to my father.

"You're wet through. Go and have a bath then go to bed before you come down with something," she said. As if to prove her point, I coughed and sneezed again. I smiled wanly at her.

"Mum, I caught a Geodude," I said. She seemed genuinely pleased, though all she said was,

"Promise me you'll never do something like that again."

"I promise," I said, meaning it.

A few days later and it was Christmas. We travelled to Celadon City to my aunts for the occasion. She had a nice house, in one of the richer suburbs for she had inherited quite a bit of money from my grandfather. So had I, but I wasn't allowed it until I was eighteen. I didn't like her partner, Kyle. He gave me the creeps, and I knew my mother was disdainful of him too. My aunt had some friends round too, so we weren't forced to talk to him. I was allowed a little bit to drink, though it was more fun watching my mother getting drunk later in the evening. Wine went straight to my mother's head.

"You're a very beautiful woman," one of my aunts' friends gushed, placing a hand on my mother's. If she had been sober, she would not have been amused, but as it was, she giggled and smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said.

"I've always thought Minty attractive, but you're even prettier," the man slurred. My mother beamed at this. She took another sip of wine, whilst the man lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, seemingly oblivious to the wedding ring that was under his nose. Suddenly, another hand swooped between the two from the back of the sofa, setting my mother's glass on the cabinet behind us.

"Excuse me." My father smiled politely enough at the man, but his eyes were frosty. My mother seemed not to notice for she giggled again.

"This is Eric, my husband," she said. The man hastily let go of my mother's hand, but smiled happily at my father.

"You're a very lucky man to be married to such a beautiful lady," he said.

"Thank you," my father smiled back at him, then turned to my mother. "I think you need some air." He took her hand, pulled her up and whirled her out of the room before she had time to protest, leaving me alone on the sofa with the man. He smiled at me.

"Are you their son?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Nice parents you have. Especially your mother," the man said, then turned his attention to something else, much to my relief. My mother, nice? That was a good one. After about ten minutes, I got up from my seat and wandered into the dining room where it was cooler to see if there was something to eat. I was always hungry these days. I bumped into my aunt.

"Anything wrong?" she asked.

"No, I was just looking for some food," I replied. She smiled at me.

"Come with me," she said, and lead me into the kitchen. She opened up a cupboard, which was full of various snack items. "Help yourself," she said. I reached in and pulled out a packet of chocolate chip cookies.

"Thank you," I said, and began to devour them.

"I don't know where you boys put it. Your cousin was exactly the same," said my aunt, amused.

"Hollow legs," came my father's voice from the doorway. He came over and stole one of my biscuits from me.

"Where's mum?" I asked, watching him munch away.

"Asleep," my father replied, an amused look in his eye.

"What's happened?" my aunt asked.

"Too much to drink, too easily flattered," my father smiled. My aunt shook her head.

"She has absolutely no tolerance whatsoever to alcohol," she grinned. "Never has."

"I know only too well," my father replied cheerily. He turned to me. "Think you should be in bed too."

"I'm okay," I protested, wanting to stay and listen to them talking about my mother being drunk.

"It's nearly one o'clock in the morning," my father replied. To my irritation, I yawned just then.

"I'm not tired," I told them.

"Do you remember which room you're staying in?" my aunt asked. I nodded, sensing a loosing battle.

"Night," I said to them, and traipsed off to bed, carrying the remainder of the cookies with me.


	3. Part Three

**Part Three  
**

The following year turned out to be a good year for me. I managed to pass the Intermediate class first time round, and was now looking forward to what I was determined to make my only and final year in the Advanced class. I hoped my mother wasn't planning to send me off to one of the Pokemon Advanced Academy's. I shuddered at the thought. This summer I wasn't going to have any formal lessons with Xan and Miya, though they said they'd be around if I wanted any help. I made my way over to the training gym at the Headquarters planning to exercise my Pokemon. I found Miya there, putting her Vulpix through its paces over a small obstacle course. She greeted me with her usual smile.

"You've grown!" she exclaimed.

"I have?" I asked. My parents had said the same thing to me, though I hadn't really noticed anything except most of my trousers suddenly seemed too short.

"Yeah. Anyway, how are you? I heard you passed your exams," she said.

"I'm fine thank you," I said. "I got good marks." I noticed for the first time how the green and blue in her eyes mingled, then realised she was speaking to me.

"Well you worked for it," she said.

"But you helped me," I replied. "And Xan."

"We only got you back on track. If you were really crap, you wouldn't have got anywhere at all," Miya told me. "Come on, let's go and sit outside." We left the gym, and went to sit on a slope that ran down to where there was an assault course for trainees. We sat down on it, Miya taking off her gloves and boots, revealing slender white arms and legs. Her Vulpix stretched out nearby and began to doze.

"This uniform is no good for getting a tan in," she said, stretching her legs out in front of her. "I spent two months in Africa on one mission and came back just as pale as when I went."

"No one would know it if you didn't wear it," I said.

"Maybe, but the strangest little things get back to your mother," she replied. There was a short silence. The sun was bearing down on us. Miya yawned and tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. The two thick bunches she wore her hair in curled onto the grass, the purple of her hair contrasting perfectly with the green. In the back of my mind I added her to the list of girls I thought were pretty. I don't know when I had started making this list, it had started out as something subconscious.

"So, know what you're going to do after you've finished at the Tech?" Miya asked.

"No," I said.

"Not going to try your luck in the Pokemon League?"

"I could do…I don't know. I like battling, but I can't be bothered to go through a competition like that."

"That's not a very good attitude to have."

"You sound like my mother," I grumbled. Miya turned onto her side and looked up at me.

"No I don't," she said, then cleared her throat. "But if I spoke to you like this I would." I laughed at this, the impression was almost spot on. Miya giggled, then looked serious again.

"Personally I think going to the Pokemon Tech is a pretty cheap way to get into the Pokemon league."

"Why's that?" I asked, interested in this different insight.

"The point of a Pokemon journey is to learn about life," she said simply. "Both yours and that of your Pokemon. I'm not saying that you or your friends at the Tech don't care about their Pokemon, but I think travelling around to collect the badges is so much more fulfilling. The classroom just can't give you that experience."

"I know," I said, wistfully. "That's what my father said."

"You're on the equivalent of six badges since you passed your exam, right? But to me, that doesn't mean anything. You haven't actually gone out and got those six badges, have you? How can a piece of paper say you have six badges? Put it this way, no one who's graduated from the Tech has ever made it past the top eight in the league." I realised she was right.

"Try telling my mother that," I said. "I wish I was getting badges the proper way."

"It's hard work, but fun," Miya said.

"You've got some?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I started off on my journey like plenty of other kids do. I earned twelve badges, but I never battled in the Pokemon league. I just got so fed up of hearing my family saying to me 'Miya, you're going to win the league easily', 'You're going to be a famous Pokemon Master', and 'You could take on any of the Elite Four, you know'. After I got six badges, I didn't go home again. I wandered around earning money from street battles and odd jobs. Not long after I got my twelfth badge I came across Team Rocket, and decided I had nothing to loose. After I got in, I sent a letter home telling my family what I had been doing the past couple of years, and where I was now. I never got a reply."

"Twelve badges?" I exclaimed, my eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"I'll show you them sometime," she smiled.

"Don't you regret not battling in the league?" I asked. Her blue-green eyes turned a little sorrowful.

"Sometimes I do. But I got myself here, so I have to live with it."

"If you wanted to leave, I'm sure my mother would let you," I said. "You are her best agent, and I know she likes you." Miya laughed at this.

"No way. And why would I want to leave? Yeah, okay, Team Rocket has its dark side, but I get to travel around and look for Pokemon just as I did on my journey, the only difference being I get paid for it and the majority of Pokemon I catch go to your mother." I couldn't really reply to that. She smiled at me again.

"When your mother starts preparing you to become the boss, you'll learn that things aren't straightforward. Just because you happen to like your best employee doesn't mean you'll bend over backwards for them. Just because you're the boss doesn't mean everything will go your way."

"It will when I'm in charge," I said, bullish. Miya just grinned and shook her head.

* * *

I looked upon the day I had to return to the Tech with more than a little disdain. I let out a weary sigh as we passed through the gates. My father had driven me here as usual. To my surprise, my mother accompanied us, but I soon found out that it was because she had some business in one of the nearby towns. I looked out at the usual beginning of term mayhem, and saw other pupils milling around with their parents. I wondered what would happen if they realised that in their midst the leader of Team Rocket had arrived. In some ways, the secrecy part was fun, yet on the other hand it was completely frustrating. If anyone ever asked what my parents did, I just said they dealt with Pokemon. If pressed further, I said they ran a chain of Pokemon shops, which wasn't really a lie for my mother had several different schemes for getting Pokemon, one of which was a shop. I dragged myself out of the car, trying to see if I could see Jack. He had to re-sit the final year. I went round to the rear of the car to help fetch my suitcases. My mother got out of the car too, but instead of helping, she stood scanning the crowd, her eyes slightly narrowed. Probably looking for interesting Pokemon.

"Hey, Giovanni!"

I turned round to see Leni, a girl my age, come bounding towards me.

"Hello Leni," I replied, hoping I wasn't going red.

"Did you pass?" she asked, her violet eyes looking at me eagerly.

"Yes, I did," I said. I could feel my mother's eyes on me, even without turning round.

"That's great, so did I," Leni beamed. I smiled back at her.

"Well, I'll see you around, got lots of stuff to do," she said, tossing her powder-blue hair over her shoulders. She smiled at both my parents, then plunged back into the crowd.

"Who was that?" my mother asked me.

"Leni, she's in my class." I replied.

"She seems a nice girl. Pretty," she said.

"She's just a friend," I said, a little too defensively.

"How come I've never heard of her then?" my father asked, passing me another suitcase.

"Well, she's not that much of a friend," I said. My parents smiled at each other. "What?" I asked, annoyed. They didn't reply, which added to my frustration.

One of the things that some of the people my age at the Tech did was to sneak out, usually on Friday or Saturday nights, to go drinking. It was a traditional thing. The forest was usually the favourite destination, though some of the bolder students travelled to one of the nearby towns. This time round, a boy called George had nominated Cimmerian City as the place to go and celebrate his birthday, and to have some fun before final exams. He had invited several other boys, including me, to go with him, on condition that we each bought a girl with us. Well, that ruled me out of the picture, or so I thought. Jack had Ella, his recently acquired girlfriend. Not wanting me to be left out, he persuaded me to ask Leni out. To my surprise she agreed. The evening started out well enough, but as it wore on, George and his friends got more and more drunk and more and more stupid. We were drunk too, but we still somehow had a grip on reality. Ella and Leni grew more and more agitated as the night wore on, and eventually both begged to be taken back to the Tech. Jack and I agreed, neither of us was having a very good time either. There was something about Cimmerian City that prevented us from relaxing completely. It wasn't exactly known for its shining reputation. We trudged along the road that would take us out of town. Suddenly a group of youths cut in front of us, stopping us in our tracks. They looked to be in their early twenties. Ella clung onto Jack's arm as they stared at us, whilst Leni almost hid behind me.

"What do you want?" I asked. The one that seemed to be the leader just smirked.

"You look a little young to be out on the streets at this time of night," he said. "And a little young to ask questions with that attitude."

"What attitude?" I snapped back.

"Look, just leave us alone," Jack said.

"Ooh, another one," someone sneered. The leader looked at us again, then back at his gang.

"I think we have some runaway Pokemon Tech students," he said, and leaned towards Ella. "And a pretty one here, too."

"Get away from her," Jack glared, pulling Ella back behind him.

"Aww, are you her boyfriend? How sweet," the leader said.

"Please, just let us go back to the Tech," Leni spoke up, close to tears.

"We don't have anything anyway," I said.

"Wrong. You have Pokemon, and since you are Tech students, you have money too." The gang seemed to close in on us.

"So, Pokemon or money?" the leader asked us.

"Neither," I said, defiantly, hoping that Jack would back me up. The next thing I knew the front of my shirt had been taken hold of and I was dragged face to face with the leader.

"Don't play games with me, little boy," he snarled.

"I'm not little," I retorted, which was true. I was barely an inch shorter than him.

"Here, have this," I heard Jack say. I turned my head and saw him throwing a Pokeball at the gang. Out came a Charmeleon. It sensed danger and immediately toasted some of the gang. I managed to get out one of mine. I hoped it was Machop, but instead it was Fearow. I was dropped onto the ground as it dived at the leader. Some of the gang managed to get out some of their Pokemon and soon a battle raged. Instead of making things better, it made things worse. Jack, ordering one of his Pokemon to attack, angered one of the gang members who was fuelled by whatever he had been drinking. He came towards Jack, a broken bottle in one hand.

"Jack, look out!" I called. He turned round just in time to dodge his attacker. Someone grabbed me by the collar. It was the gang leader.

"I'm sick of you," he said, pulling on my shirt so I began to choke. Suddenly, someone grabbed onto his arm. It was Leni.

"Leave him alone!" she shrieked. The leader pushed her to the ground. While he was distracted I managed to free myself with a kick to his shin, then saw stars as his fist met my left eye. I was all for punching him back, but the sound of a siren in the distance robbed me of my chances. The gang legged it, leaving the four of us alone.

"We'd better go too. If Officer Jenny ends up taking us back to the Tech, we'll be in serious trouble," I said, though I was more worried about what would happen to me if the police questioned me. The others agreed. We ran as fast as we could away form the scene.

Eventually we reached the perimeter of the Tech. The cool air cleared my head a little, though I still felt like I was in some weird dream. Jack and Ella decided they wanted to go off for a little walk on their own, leaving me alone with Leni by the school fence. She started to cry.

"Are you alright?" I asked, stupidly. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just glad we're not in Cimmerian City anymore," she snivelled, but continued crying. I wasn't sure what to do and Ella had gone off with Jack, so I awkwardly put my arm round her shoulders. She flung her arms round me, sniffing.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" I asked, pleased yet uneasy to have a girl hugging me.

"For stopping that guy," she said, and smiled at me through her tears.

"Oh," I said, and was suddenly aware that my eye was still tingling. "But I didn't really do anything."

"You stood up to him," she replied. There was a tense little silence.

"I'll walk you back to the Tech?" I offered.

"Yes, please," she said. Leni and I didn't say anything to each other as we carefully crawled through the hole in the fence that was at the back of the grounds.

"I feel sick," she groaned, after she crawled through. She bent over, holding her stomach. I turned away grimacing as she threw up on the grass. After a couple of minutes she stood up again.

"That feels better," she smiled. We began walking again, over the playing field to where the Tech itself stood, looking eerie in the dark.

"Well, goodnight," I said, when we reached the girl's rooms.

"Goodnight," Leni said. She didn't go in though, just smiled at me. I don't know if it was because of the remaining fuzziness in my brain, but I found myself leaning forwards and placing a quick kiss on her lips. She grabbed my shoulders.

"Kiss me properly," she said, pulling me towards her. The next thing I knew she was jabbing her tongue inside my mouth and whirling it around like a panicked Magikarp. I awoke from my daydream. It was my turn to feel sick. Was this what kissing a girl was really like? It was gross! I managed to stomach it for another minute or so, before I pulled away. Leni grinned at me, and I managed a smile.

"Want to come and see the Krabby I caught the other day?" she asked.

"Umm…no. Maybe tomorrow. I should get back to my room, I'm tired," I said, not wanting a repeat performance.

"Oh. Okay then," she replied, sounding disappointed. I forced a smile and made my way back to my room.

* * *

Apart from that, nothing much else happened in the final months at the Tech. I felt quite grown up in a way now. Not only because I had finally turned sixteen, but also because I didn't have the spectre of school hanging over me anymore. I was enjoying basking in the joy of having to do nothing at all. This summer was really hot, and as doing anything strenuous was exhausting, most of my days were spent lazing round the pool, much to the annoyance of my mother.

"Are you actually going to do something in the near future?" she asked, coming to sit at the table by the pool.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, what is it?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I admitted, stretching my arms. My mother emitted an annoyed sigh, the kind that meant she was going to try very hard not to lose her temper with me. Which meant she was after something.

"Look, I understand that you probably don't want to attend any more schools or academies, though I hope that you will still go to university," she said.

"I haven't decided that yet," I said.

"Well, say that you are going to go," she said. "That still leaves at least two years to fill."

"Miya suggested I should try the Pokemon League."

"That's a once a year competition. You'd have to wait a year now, seeing as this year's competition is almost finished."

"Well, I could spend the year training for it," I said, wishing she'd go away and leave me alone.

"I think you've spent enough time playing with your Pokemon," she replied. I rolled my eyes. It felt like I couldn't win with my mother. One moment it was "You're not training your Pokemon hard enough," the next it was "You're spending too much time training them."

"Maybe I don't want to do anything," I said, without thinking about what I was saying. Though her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, I could feel the glare they gave me.

"You sound exactly like your half-wit of a cousin," she seethed, taking off her sunglasses in order to glare at me better. "Your aunt might have been happy to let her son grow into a useless bum, but I will not stand by and let my son do the same!" My mother often criticised my aunt over how she brought up my cousin, though never to her face. I don't really know why, Stefan always seemed to have been well brought up to me. Maybe it was a kind of sibling rivalry thing that my mother felt she needed to come out on top in. Saying that, my mother had to get the better of everyone. She was a perfectionist, and had a hard time understanding people who couldn't seem to work to their maximum efficiency. I could understand her point of view, for I hated things that wasted my time too, but I didn't really want to have to think about the rest of my life at the moment, especially not while there was the summer sun to be enjoyed. After a visible struggle to prevent a complete outburst of temper, my mother spoke again.

"I think that it is time you learnt some things about the running of Team Rocket. I think you should spend the next couple of years learning from me and other people in the organisation."

"You want me to work for you?" I asked, a little perplexed at this suggestion, which it was obvious my mother had been plotting for some time.

"If that's how you want to put it, yes," she answered.

"I don't know," I said doubtfully, images of me running around in the uniform of the lowest ranking agent, doing all the dirty work like some dogsbody coming into my mind.

"I will pay you as I would any other employee," she said.

"How much?" I asked.

"That depends on what you do and how well you do it," she replied. I let out an annoyed sigh. But I had no suitable alternative to her proposal.

"Okay," I said. "I'll give it a go."

"Good." My mother smiled at me, and put on her sunglasses again. "I shall make the appropriate arrangements." She rose from her seat. "Don't get sunburnt," she said, and finally left me alone.

My father said he'd take Jack and I to see the final of that year's Pokemon League competition. I knew Miya was around, so went to find her to ask if she would like to come along too.

"Well, thanks for asking, but your mother has already told me to go along with you," she smiled.

"Really? What for?" I asked.

"She wants me to keep a look out for Pokemon, silly," she answered, then looked at me slyly. "Unless she felt you needed an extra minder."

"I don't need looking after," I retorted.

"Why do you get angry so easily?" she laughed.

"Stop picking on me."

"I'm not, I just asked you a question," she replied. I scowled. "Your face will stay like that when the wind changes," she said, not for the first time. I don't know why I reacted the way I did, it was just the way it happened. My mother was quick to anger too, and together we sometimes drove my father up the wall.

"Giovanni," he said after breaking up a recent argument between us. "One temperamental, self-important person round here is quite enough. I don't need you to be one as well." I tried to listen to what he had to say, as I always did, but the argumentative side of my nature was too deeply ingrained in me. But all was calm as we journeyed to the league final. The match was amazing, to see it in real life was far more powerful than watching it on television. The weather at the moment was boiling, and we had been sat here for a good hour. I could feel myself getting darker in colour under the sun. The two contestants finished the current battle, and a break was called. A surge of people rose from their seats to make a dash for the lavatories and to get refreshments, my father and Jack amongst them.

"No way I'm going to even try to get to the ladies," Miya told me.

"That was a good battle," I said.

"It's a close one this year," she said, adjusting her sunglasses. She used her programme to fan herself, stray purple strands lifting up in the draft whilst she looked around at the remaining crowd. Suddenly she rose from her seat and disappeared off without saying a word. About ten minutes later, she returned.

"One Golduck," she said, fishing out a Pokeball from somewhere in her skirt to show me.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I spotted a trainer from one of the earlier rounds who I remembered had a very powerful Golduck. So I followed him, created a bit of fuss and took it in the confusion," she replied with a smile, putting the Pokeball away. I looked round nervously.

"Didn't anyone see you?" I asked, half-expecting an Officer Jenny to appear.

"Do you think I would be sitting here if they did?" she replied. My father returned, carrying some cold drinks. The next battle commenced just as he took his seat again, Jack squashing past us to take his. It was even better than the previous one. Of course there had to be a winner, and that came just over an hour later. We drove back home after dropping Jack off, the shade of the forest pleasant after the glare of the sun. I stifled several yawns on the way, the sun had made me sleepy. We pulled in through the gates that lead us to our house, looking orangey in the late afternoon sun. To our surprise, there was a sports car parked outside it.

"Looks like we have a visitor," my father said.

"Fancy car," Miya commented.

"Yeah," I agreed. I didn't recognise it at all. But when the front door of the house opened, I recognised the dark-haired man who kissed my mother goodbye on the cheek before turning and making his way to the sports car.

"That's my cousin, Stefan," I told Miya.

"So that's Stefan," she said. Stefan spotted us, and made his way over. He greeted my father, then me.

"I've just been dropping off some late birthday presents for you," he smiled at me. I just smiled back. Stefan took hold of Miya's hand.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure," he beamed at her.

"Miyamoto," she replied, her smile polite but not the ray of sunshine I was used to.

"Miyamoto," he repeated, kissing her hand. "I'm Stefan, Gio's cousin." I felt a pang of something inside. It wasn't jealousy, and it wasn't anger. Something in between the two. I couldn't remember having felt it before.

"Nice meeting you, Stefan," she smiled, still in the same polite manner. "Well, please excuse me, I have to be on my way." She turned to me. "See you later, Giovanni."

"Bye," I said. She thanked my father for taking her with us, and then walked off in the direction of the headquarters. To anyone who didn't know of the existence of the headquarters of Team Rocket on the other side of the thick line of trees, it would have seemed an odd thing to do. Even if you walked round the grounds of our home by the line of trees, you wouldn't spot the hidden path that threaded through them. Nothing was as it seemed in this area of the Viridian forest. I realised Stefan was talking to me.

"That a friend of yours?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, managing to ignore the insinuation in his voice.

"One of the agents," my father said.

"Ah, thought so," Stefan said, glancing in Miya's direction. I felt the pang go through me again.

Not long after, I began to start what was really the process that would enable me to take over Team Rocket one day. The first day was weird. I'd been in the headquarters before of course, I'd even sat in my mother's chair before. But this time I was there to do something productive. To my relief, my mother wasn't going to make me traipse round with her thugs. She said it wasn't necessary, I would have everything about them explained to me though I think I knew what they did. The head of the so-called security division was a man named Trey. He was also one of the very few people my mother had complete faith in. Tall and serious, his green hair now beginning to fade to grey, it was clear he meant business. Team Rocket was made up of three main divisions and their sub divisions. The main divisions were the security division, laboratories, and fieldwork. My father was the head of the laboratories, and a man called Oliver shared command of the field-agents with my mother. Oliver, I learnt, also looked after a group of agents who spied on the other employees. My mother concerned herself with keeping the integrity of Team Rocket together almost obsessively. She was immensely proud of her role in bringing Team Rocket from its humble beginnings to what it was today, and she was going to let no one take that from her. As the first couple of months passed, I began to have a cautiously renewed admiration for her. Pieces of her behaviour that for so long had seemed strange and unreasonable began to fall into place. Like why she pushed me so hard to do well. After spending some time learning the basics, I got sent to the laboratories for a while. It was strange, I think I learnt more about the internal workings of Pokemon in the first fortnight than I did in the whole time I spent at the Pokemon Technical Institute. Being with my father was better than being with my mother. I didn't feel like I had to prove anything to him. And when he went out on business to other parts of the country, he took me with him most of the time, depending on what it was he was doing. Strange as it sounds, it had never occurred to me until now that my mother was his boss.

"Doesn't it bother you that mum is your boss?" I asked as we sat in a pub on our way home one day.

"Does it bother you that mum is your boss too?" he replied.

"I never thought of her like that," I said after a slight pause. My father smiled at me.

"There's your answer then," he said. I sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you think I could run Team Rocket?"

"The question is whether you wish to run Team Rocket or not."

"Well, I like the idea of being in charge…it's not like I have a choice really, is it?" I said.

"Of course you have a choice. Nobody can force you to do anything if you really don't want to," my father said.

"She can. Look what happened over going to the Tech," I answered.

"This is a little different. You were a child then. Another eighteen months and you'll be an adult, which is a completely different game. You have to take charge of yourself." I didn't say anything, so he continued.

"If your mother thinks she can walk all over you, she will do. It doesn't matter who you are. If your grandfather hadn't turned a blind eye to some of your mother's less redeeming personality traits, I don't think there'd be a Team Rocket, certainly not in the form it is, anyway." I was a little taken aback by this, but continued listening.

"You should sit down and think very hard about what you want to do with your life Giovanni, because sooner rather than later, it's going to be too late to change your mind." He leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his drink. I realised he was right - I hadn't really thought about where these two years would take me, I had just accepted my mother's offer without thinking of the consequences. Still…

"I want to run Team Rocket," I said, adamantly. "I want to do it for granddad. I want you and mum to be proud of me." My father smiled and shook his head.

"Running Team Rocket wouldn't make me proud of you Gi. Aside from my work in the laboratories, I have no interest whatsoever in Team Rocket. If it wasn't for your mother I would have left after the break up of the government project it originated from," he said.

"So she made you join even though you didn't want to?" I asked. He laughed.

"She'd like to think so, but it was my choice. No, I stayed because I wanted to be with your mother, but it was one of the hardest decisions of my life."

"Do you regret it?" I asked, intrigued.

"Actually, no. It's not been easy, but then an easy life is boring," my father said. I didn't really understand my father's logic in his decision to stay with Team Rocket. I wouldn't give up my life for someone like my mother. But I knew that despite all her faults, my father commanded a great respect for her. Well, most of the time. Though my mother had a short temper, it was rare for them to row badly, so when they did it upset me. When I was younger, I used to flee to my grandfather's apartment and refuse to go back until one of my parents came to collect me with the assurance it was all over. These days I would take my bike and leave the place altogether for a couple of hours. Today was one of those days. I hadn't got very far when I bumped into Miya. She suggested that I should come with her and Cal on a short overnight expedition to take my mind off things. I snuck back to the house which was quiet for the moment, packed a rucksack and left a note on the kitchen table, not wanting to seek either of my parents out. I soon began to regret my decision. My legs ached, and my back was killing me. I felt like I had a Snorlax on my back, not a rucksack.

"Don't you ever rest?" I asked Miya.

"We've only gone two miles," she replied.

"But you walk so fast!" I said.

"We have to move fast," Cal replied tersely. "We need to make it to the river before it gets dark to remain on schedule." I pulled a face at him behind his back. The lower ranking agents weren't like this. They did their job, but more slowly.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" I asked.

"Rhyhorn and Rhydon. A herd has been spotted about six miles from here," Miya said.

"Six miles?" I groaned. I had travelled further than that before, but that had been on my bike and I wasn't carrying a heavy backpack. Things got worse though, for we turned into the forest in order to cut across to where we wanted to be. Just as I thought I was going to collapse, we stopped in a clearing not far from the river Cal had spoken about. I dropped my rucksack to the floor and sat on it, glad to be off my feet. Miya pulled me up.

"Come on, you can help us look for some firewood," she smiled, and dragged me through the trees with her. Cal had gone off on his own. Together we gathered a large bundle of wood, and brought it back to where we had chosen to spend the night. Soon we had a fire going, and we were able to have something to eat. Through the trees, the sky slowly turned to black. Miya chatted away to both of us, though Cal and I did not say much to each other. For some reason Cal had always disliked me, and now the feeling was mutual. We settled down for the night, after throwing some extra wood on the fire. But I couldn't sleep. The ground wasn't comfortable and I was cold despite the fire not far from me. I sighed, then looked over to where Miya lay fast asleep. People look strange when they are sleeping. I suppose it's because it's not how you are used to seeing them. I tried to go to sleep again, but couldn't. Exasperated, I crawled out of my sleeping bag, and crept out towards the river. There was a full moon tonight, and out of the forest, everywhere was cast in a silver light. I sat down on the bank of the river, watching the water move like liquid silk.

"What are you doing?" The voice behind me startled me so much I nearly fell into the river. I turned round to see Miya standing looking at me.

"I couldn't sleep," I said. She sat beside me.

"Not cut out for the outdoor life really, are you?" she smiled.

"I'm not used to it, that's all," I replied quickly. "What are you doing up, anyway?"

"Something woke me, I looked round and saw that you had gone so came looking for you," she said. "Don't want you to spend another night lost in the forest."

"I was only going to sit here for a bit," I said.

"You don't mind if I sit with you?" Miya asked.

"No," I replied, quite happy she was with me. She smiled at me and I returned it. She gave a little sigh, and looked back at the river. We sat in silence, watching the water ripple like quicksilver. I got a sudden longing to want to hug her. I restrained myself. Miya was not Leni. Miya was someone special.


	4. Part Four

**Part Four**

I found my mother to be in an unusually upbeat mood at dinner. Usually she was tired and irritable at this time of day.

"Well, I have made an interesting purchase today," she smiled as we tucked in. My father and I looked at her expectantly.

"I've bought the Viridian City Gym," she said. My father paused in lifting some food to his mouth to give her a puzzled look.

"That derelict heap of old rubbish?" he asked. "What do you want that for? You're not planning a scrap metal business now are you?"

"I'm going to rebuild it of course. I want it to serve as another base for Team Rocket, though the public will not suspect anything but a normal certified Pokemon League Gym," she replied. She looked at him playfully out of the corner of her eye. "Though selling the scrap isn't a bad idea. I'll need all the money I can get to pay for the renovation."

"Yeah right, a couple of million or whatever it is going to cost isn't going to burn a hole in your pocket, is it?" my father replied, and laughed. "You keep a tight grip on the organisation's finances then go and spend all that money on a gym?"

"It'll be worth it," my mother answered, as if she was already reaping the rewards.

"Don't tell me you're planning to be the gym leader," my father said. I stifled a snort of laughter.

"Of course I'm not. I have that planned out as I have the rest of the project," she said.

"You're going to put Miyamoto in there, aren't you?" my father said, making my heart jump as her name was mentioned. I was sure I was going red, and looked down at my plate.

"Wrong. Giovanni's going to be the leader of course," she said. My head shot up again and I stared at her.

"Me?" I stuttered.

"Him?" my father said, as surprised as I was.

"Giovanni's got to hone his leadership skills somewhere and a gym seems as good a place as any to me especially if it is also a small base. Don't forget this is still two or three years away yet, so he will have plenty of preparation," she said.

"Well, it'll be interesting when it comes around," said my father. "How about that then, Giovanni?"

"It's okay," I managed to say brightly. Giovanni, the Viridian City Gym Leader sounded great to me. My mother shook her head.

"It's okay," she snorted, mimicking me. "You'd think every sixteen year old boy gets told he's going to have his own gym the way you're acting."

"What do you expect him to say?" my father asked.

"A 'thank you' would be nice," she said, on the point of a glare at me. I sighed.

"Thank you," I said, which turned the glare back into a smile again.

* * *

I hated winter because since the night I had been lost in the forest I had gained an intense dislike of the cold. So I was glad when spring came round and the temperatures began to go up a little. The rebuilding of the Viridian gym was now underway in earnest, having been delayed for a couple of months because of snow. The weather hadn't stopped my mother testing her new helicopter. She had taken my father and I with her on the journey. I loved it, but I don't think my father did. He was away at the moment at some conference miles away, and was due back this evening. I finished my breakfast and made my way over to the headquarters. My mother hadn't been at home, so I assumed she had gone over to her office early. It wasn't unheard of. I found the door to her office locked. Alison, her secretary, wasn't in yet, so I walked down the corridor and found Trey in his office sipping a cup of coffee. His change of expression as he looked up filled me with a sudden anxiety.

"You don't know where my mother is do you?" I asked, feeling stupid.

"She didn't tell you?" he asked, a little surprised.

"Tell me what?" I asked, the anxiety becoming tinged with dread.

"She had a call early this morning. Your father's had some kind of accident, so she's gone over to Azure City," he told me. "I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that."

"You don't have a number I can contact her on do you?" I asked. Trey nodded, and picked up a piece of paper.

"Use my phone if you like," he said, rising from his seat with some files in his hands.

"Thank you," I said, and waited until he had gone out of sight before I picked up the phone, dialling the number with a shaking hand.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was not my mother. It was one of her agents.

"Is my mother there?" I asked.

"Just a moment," he replied. After a few seconds, I heard my mother's voice.

"Giovanni?" There was the slightest of strains in it.

"Mum? Someone said dad's had an accident? How is he?"

"Well," she began, then there was a slight pause. "Giovanni, he's dead." Those words went through me like an arrow. I couldn't say anything. My mother continued. "He had very bad injuries," she said.

"What happened to him?" I managed to ask.

"I don't know yet," she replied shortly.

"When did he die?" I asked.

"Before I got here," she said, the strain in her voice a little stronger.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"I'll be home before the end of the day. I have some matters to take care of first," said my mother. At the back of my mind I wondered what she meant, but that wasn't what mattered at the moment.

"Okay," I said.

"You go and do whatever you want today," she said, her voice taking on a rare softness. "I'll see you later."

"Okay," was all I could say before putting down the phone. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. This wasn't really happening. I must be still dreaming, and when I wake up, my father will still be coming home this evening. But it was real, I knew it only too well. I didn't know what to do, so I just sat in Trey's chair staring into nothing. He came back in.

"My father's died," I said quietly. He paused in his stride, and his lips pressed together as he contemplated the news.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied. I didn't answer. He came over to me. "Perhaps you should go back home. If your mother has anything to pass on, I'll let you know straight away."

"You're right," I said, standing up. I left his office without saying a further word.

My mother was home later that afternoon as she said, her large black helicopter seeming to symbolise the descending gloom in our lives. She looked absolutely shattered, and not just because of tiredness. The news that she had only deepened the emotional turmoil I felt inside. My father's death hadn't been an accident. Someone had murdered him. I didn't sleep much that night. Instead I lay in bed on my back, wondering what I was to do. My mother may be the biggest influence on where my life was heading, but my father was my guide. He was the one I went to when I had problems with my homework, or wasn't sure what to do in certain situations. As I got older, we hardly did anything as a family, it was always my father and I. We'd go on bike rides through the forest at weekends, or fishing. I suddenly felt very alone.

The next morning I was up before my mother. She appeared after a little while, telltale rings and puffiness round her eyes. I didn't comment on it. She did not take kindly to having chinks in her armour pointed out at any time. I hate to use the word in the circumstances, but she looked like a ghost, so pale was her face. I realised for the first time in my life how petite she actually was. The imposing aura that normally surrounded her was gone, leaving behind a woman who was…normal. I decided to make an effort, and made her some breakfast.

"Here," I said, and placed some toast and a cup of tea in front of her. She looked at me and managed the faintest of smiles, but her eyes were dull.

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," she said, pushing the plate away from her a little.

"Just have a little bit, mum. You didn't have anything last night," I pleaded, a sudden irrational fear that she was going to waste away and die too popping into my head. She sighed, picked up a piece of toast and took a small bite, chewing it slowly. I sat down with her and ate my toast. I didn't feel particularly hungry either, but I forced the food down my throat.

"I'm going to be in my office today," she said. "What are you going to be doing?"

"I don't know. I can come and help you if you like," I replied. She shook her head.

"No. You should go and get out of here for the day. Go to Viridian City or one of your friend's."

"I'd rather stay here and help you," I said.

"There isn't a lot you can do. Do as I ask of you," she said. She didn't even have the energy to begin to yell at me. She was so out of character it frightened me. I wished she wouldn't try to push me away from her. I wanted to comfort her, but it felt like she wanted to deal with my father's death all by herself. I got up from the table.

"Okay, I'll probably go and see Jack. I haven't seen him for a while," I said quietly. She just nodded. I hesitated for a moment then went and hugged her. She stiffened ever so slightly for an instant, but then hugged me back.

At my father's funeral, my mother was pretty much the same as she had been at my grandfather's. Unlike my grandfather's funeral, the sun shone brightly, and the blue sky was flecked with white clouds. My aunt arrived with Stefan that morning, and the first thing she greeted my mother with was,

"Have you been eating properly?"

"Yes," was my mother's growled reply. The real answer was no, and my aunt knew that even before she grilled me about how my mother and I had been coping.

"I knew I should have come over as soon as I found out about your father, but she insisted everything was okay and that she didn't need me here," my aunt had fumed to me. After the funeral, we returned home. My aunt wished to be alone with my mother, so I wandered outside to join Stefan. He was leaning against the wall of the house, about to take out a packet of cigarettes. He offered me one. I shook my head. He shrugged nonchalantly, took one out himself, lit it and took a long drag before blowing the smoke out in a grey cloud.

"Not used to seeing your mum upset, eh?" he asked me. I shook my head. Stefan continued. "Not like me and my mum. Then again, Kyle wasn't exactly nice to her." He lifted the cigarette to his mouth again. A couple of years back, there had been some mess concerning Kyle. Something to do with trying to take my aunt's money. I didn't know the full story.

"At least he can't get to her now," I said. Stefan nodded.

"I'm sorry about your dad. He was a decent guy, didn't deserve to die like that."

"I know," I replied.

"I didn't even know my dad," Stefan said.

"How come?" I asked.

"My mum was, in her youth, mixing with a lot of people shall we say."

"Oh," I said. Stefan smoked some more of his cigarette, and smiled at me.

"So, where's your friend, the young lady with the purple hair?"

"Miya? I think she's running some scheme for my mother up north. I haven't seen her for a while," I replied evenly.

"That's a shame. Was kind of hoping she'd be around," Stefan said. I found myself clenching my teeth together.

* * *

It took a while but gradually things got better though they would never be the same. Mother still appeared the same to her employees, but I knew that part of her wasn't there anymore. She had been completely devastated by my father's death. But in the end, life went on. I continued to learn from her the ways of Team Rocket. I went on a couple of expeditions with Xan and his partner Dahlia. The first one was halfway up a mountain in a thunderstorm, and the second one I woke up in the middle of the night to find I was sharing my sleeping bag with an Ekans. I decided I was probably better off sitting down and studying how to run a gym and learning how to drive.

But being at home wasn't so great now my father wasn't there - it meant that I became more of a direct target of my mother's temper. To sometimes have to spend the day with her then come home and still have her telling me what to do in the evenings became tiresome. A particularly vicious argument between us one night was the final deciding factor for me that I would go to university, if only to give myself a break more than anything else. That left the question of what to study. My father had a degree in Pokegenetics, but I had seen the size of the Pokegenetics books he had, and didn't fancy it. My mother didn't go to university, though she could have easily got a degree. I settled for doing a general Pokeology degree. My time at the Pokemon Tech and the knowledge I had picked up from my grandfather and the time I had spent in the labs should give me a sufficient enough grounding in Pokemon to be able to do it. I purposely sent off applications to universities far away. Viridian City University was one of the most prestigious around, but it was too close to home. I got accepted to four of them, and chose in the end to go to Mandarin University in the Orange Islands. It was one of the best, plus its warm climate appealed to me. Mother was pleased to see me go as she had long made it clear she thought I should go to university. I think she was also glad to have me out of the way for a while.

It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I quickly made some friends, and I quickly learnt how to use the money I had inherited from my grandfather. At first I hadn't let on that I had a rich background in order to see the people who would be friends for the right reasons. After that, it became not unknown for me to go into a bar with my friends and buy everyone in there a drink. The reaction meant that we would often be sat until the early hours surrounded by a load of girls. Though I knew that I wasn't exactly ugly from the fact that I got a lot of sideways glances when walking round the university, I knew that the girls in the bars were mostly desperate tarts. It wouldn't have mattered if I was ninety years old, bald and as wrinkly as an elephant, their reaction would have been the same. I had seen from Team Rocket how powerful money could be, and it was nice to experience that power.

I couldn't forget studying, of course. If running Team Rocket wouldn't have made my father proud, I knew that doing well at university would. My first year was pretty straightforward, but the second year required more work. So I cut down on the partying - it had got boring anyway - and concentrated. The time I had spent working for my mother had taught me how to sit down and deal with tedious items like writing long reports. Despite the workload though, I had a relationship for a time with a girl called Lauren. Unfortunately it didn't last, partly because I felt that I couldn't fully trust her, and partly because of Miya. I had hardly seen her at all over the past couple of years, though we had written to each other a few times. But I couldn't get her out of my mind. I had thought that when I went to university, what I admit was a crush would fade away. It hadn't happened. It was crazy - it wasn't like I was ever going to be with Miya. She had told me in her last letter that she had a boyfriend now. I loved Lauren a lot, but it wasn't fair to Lauren to tell her I loved her when I…I loved someone else. My mother was inquisitive as to why Lauren and I had split up.

"Last time I spoke to you everything was fine," she said.

"Well, I guess things don't always go as planned," I said, not wanting to go into details.

"No, they don't," she said. "It just seems rather sudden, that's all."

"Neither of us was happy really. I'm putting it down as one of those things," I replied.

"That's probably the best way of looking at it. Put it in the past and don't dwell on it," she said. She certainly didn't put my father's death in the past. When she wasn't busy with Team Rocket, she was busy digging up every last contact she could to find whoever had murdered him. She was eventually successful, through Trey's hard work, but again she cut me out over the matter. It was like she didn't want me to know. I don't know what she told my father's family, if anything. We didn't see much of them, even when father was alive - his sister lived in the Silver Islands, which were some seventy miles from the Orange Islands, and work kept visits to his parents few, even though they only lived in Cerulean City. The person we saw most of was my father's brother. He was the only person in his family my father felt he could tell the truth about his life to. Father said that my grandparents would have been devastated if they knew. Initially my uncle had laid the blame for my father's murder at my mother, rubbing salt into her well open wounds. In his eyes, it must have been something to do with Team Rocket. When that had been disproved, he made his apologies, but the damage had been done. Mother allowed herself to be on speaking terms with him again, but she never forgave him for some of the remarks made. Such was the nature of her personality.

* * *

The last eighteen months at university passed quietly, and I managed to graduate with a first class honours degree. Mother was away at the time I got the result, so the person I chose to share my good news with was Miya. She gave me the biggest hug her slender frame could manage, which probably made my day even more than getting my degree. Still, mother was the person I was most anxious to tell, for obvious reasons. She was home a couple of days later.

"I'm extremely proud of you," she smiled at me. I knew she meant it. She never pretended. "And I know your grandfather and father would be too," she added, knowingly.

"I know," I replied.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again; look at what you can do when you put your mind to it," she said. I looked at her ruefully.

"You don't have to tell me that," I said. She gave me a look.

"I'm not so sure," she said. Before I had time to ask her what she meant, she quickly changed the subject, a habit she had when she didn't want to discuss something. When she had finished, I went out to polish my car. It didn't really need it, but I just wanted an excuse to look at it. It had been my twenty-first birthday present from my mother. I was glad I lived in the countryside, so I could drive it at top speed down empty roads. I had taken Xan and Miya out in it. I had never seen Xan scared before. I told him that if he didn't like my driving, he'd hate my cousin's. Stefan didn't brake very often. He invited me over to his beach house on Seafoam Island for a weekend. That was an experience in itself - I had thought some of the things I got up to at university had been over the top. I doubted if many of the people there were actual friends. I think lots were hangers-on. He didn't seem to realise it though, or if he did, it didn't bother him. I wearily made my way back home, longing to crawl into bed and have a long sleep. Something white flashed by the corner of my eye as I drove past it. I stopped, and reversed. Struggling up the grassy kerb, trying to get into the undergrowth on the other side, was a Meowth. It was clearly injured. I got out of my car and went over to it. It hissed slightly as I extended a hand to it, but I could see it was too weak to put up much of a fight. I fetched a blanket I kept in the back of the car, and carefully wrapped the Meowth up in it. I was much nearer to home than a Pokemon Centre, so I decided to look after it overnight and then take it to the Pokemon Centre in the morning. I placed the Meowth on the passenger seat, and got in.

"Don't worry, I'm going to take you to my home. I'll give you some food and maybe that'll make you feel a bit better," I said to it, tickling it gently behind the ear. There was something about feline Pokemon that I found irresistible. Maybe it was their charm or their single-mindedness. Although I had grown up with various Pokemon in the house, none of them had ever been a Meowth, even though I always asked for one. I drove home fast but carefully. Once there, I took it into the kitchen and put it on the table, so I could look at it better. I think its leg was broken, and it had a small cut across its nose, which I cleaned. It had stopped hissing and trying to scratch me anyway. My mother returned home, the Meowth immediately catching her attention.

"What's that?" she asked sharply.

"A Meowth I found on the road. I think it was hit by a car," I told her. "I think its leg's broken." Her face filled with concern and she came and looked closer at it.

"Why didn't you take it to a Pokemon Centre?" she asked.

"Home was closer. I'll take it in the morning," I replied. "I was looking for some food for it."

"Go over to the labs. There's some special Meowth food there. It'll have better nutrients in than general Pokemon food," she said. I hesitated, not wanting to leave the Meowth.

"Do you want it to starve?" she snapped. I made my way over to the labs and got the food. When I got back, my mother had taken the Meowth into the living room, and placed it by the fire in a box with a blanket. She was knelt by it, watching it lap at a bowl of water. I brought the food over in another bowl and placed it next to the water. Hungry, the Meowth wolfed it down. My mother stroked it.

"You could have at least put its leg in a splint," she said. I noticed she had done this.

"I'd only been in fifteen minutes before you," I retorted. The Meowth was startled by my raised voice, but was soothed by my mother, who glared at me.

"The poor thing's been through enough, don't you think?" she hissed. She got up and left the room. I sat down by the box.

"I'm sorry," I said to the Meowth, tickling it under the chin and behind the ears. To my delight, it began to purr a little. "You'll be fine," I said to it.

The trip to the Pokemon Centre in the morning confirmed the broken leg. Apart from making sure it got plenty of food and water, Nurse Joy said that the Meowth was fine. It had had a lucky escape. The Meowth seemed happy enough to see me after its treatment, so I claimed it as my own and took it back home with me. I would be moving to Viridian City soon, to take charge of the gym. It could have been sooner, but because of some problems during the rebuilding and my duration at university, the opening was delayed. My mother's connections had ensured I had all the correct paperwork to certify me as the gym leader, though I was sure I would have been able to pass the qualification exam. Well, I suppose it was one less thing to concern myself with. I spent time in the training gym when it wasn't being used by my mother's agents, getting my Pokemon into top condition. Krabby, Machop and Geodude had all evolved into Kingler, Machoke and Graveller respectively. During the summer tuition I used to have, Xan had taught me many small but effective ways of keeping Pokemon in top condition even if they were not battling. He said that Pokemon were like athletes - even if there were no competitions, they still had to practise and exercise. I would train the Meowth too when it was better. For some reason, it seemed to like my mother, though she paid less attention to it than I did. Pokemon were strange.

I had offered Miya a lift into Viridian City, seeing as both of us had business to deal with, though not before I showed her the newly finished Gym. After a couple of hours, we made our way back home. Out of the city, I drove faster down the quieter lanes. Miya kept looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked eventually. She had never complained about how fast I drove before.

"I was just wondering if you'd let me have a go," she said.

"You want to drive my car?" I replied, surprised.

"Yeah…just for a little bit," she smiled.

"No," I said, shortly.

"Aww, come on! I'd never be able to afford to buy one of these, and I'd like to try it," she pleaded, looking at me sweetly.

"No," I repeated.

"Don't be mean. I'd let you if it was my car," she said. "I won't crash it, I promise. I passed my driving test first time round."

"I don't know," I replied, doubtfully.

"Just a couple of miles down a side road?" she asked. I gave in. If it had been anyone but her I would have refused, and probably have left them on the side of the road if they nagged me. I pulled off the main road, and stopped.

"If you scratch it, you're in trouble," I told her. The way she smiled at me told me that she didn't believe me. We swapped seats. I expected Miya to drive fairly slowly. I was wrong.

"Slow down! You'll damage it!" I cried, clinging on for dear life. She just laughed, swerving sharply off the road we were on, and through the forest on a narrow little road that went downhill. The bushes and trees whipped past. Fortunately she slowed down enough to pass safely round the sharp bend at the bottom of the hill, then speeded up again.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I know where we're going. I'm not going to kidnap you," she grinned. After a little while, the trees opened out and a lake appeared in front of us. The road followed the edge of the lake for some way, before turning back into the forest. At the bend, there was a small grassy lay-by, which Miya pulled into.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" she smiled at me. I just looked at her. She giggled and got out of the car. I got out too, to inspect the damage. No scratches but…

"It's filthy!" I almost wailed. Miya simply rolled her eyes and went to sit on a log that was near the edge of the lake.

"Just a couple of miles," I muttered. "It's not a rally car."

"Stop whinging," she said. I could see that whatever I was going to say to her wouldn't make any difference, so I went and sat beside her.

"So, looking forward to being a gym leader?" she asked.

"Yes, I suppose so. Mum says it'll be good for my leadership skills," I shrugged.

"She still expects you to take over then?"

"Of course, but then, I'm happy to do that, whenever that will be," I replied, then smiled at her. "I'll give you a pay rise and extra holidays when I'm in charge." Miya grinned at me, then grew serious again.

"Do you really want to take over, or is it just what you've been programmed to say?" she replied.

"It is what I want," I insisted.

"I don't believe you. I don't think you know what you want," she said. "You're just following whatever your mother wants you to do because you can't think of anything else."

"That's not true," I replied shortly.

"Can I be honest with you?" Miya asked.

"Of course," I said.

"You're lazy. Lazy in your mind. You don't do anything for yourself unless someone or something pushes you to do it."

"Like what?" I asked.

"The Pokemon Tech. Everyone knew you were capable of doing it, but you needed Xan and I to push you. University. Your family wanted you to go, but it took a row with your mother to make you. Team Rocket. You weren't bothered at all until your mother suggested it, and now look at you. That's just the big things," she said. I sighed.

"Miya, not everyone is a free spirit like you. You could walk away from what your parents wanted you to do. I can't."

"Why not? What's to stop you getting in your car and going off to see the world? You're only twenty-one. Do something impulsive."

"I can't just take off like that," I said. Miya inched a little closer to me, and placed a hand on mine.

"She'd probably respect you for it," she said. I snorted.

"Yeah right. My mother doesn't love me, let alone respect me," I replied, fighting the lump in my throat that this declaration brought up.

"Giovanni, that's not true. Of course she loves you. Just because she's not a huggy, overly affectionate kind of person, doesn't mean she doesn't care about you," Miya assured.

"My mother loves her work. I'm just a useful asset to her," I said, bitterly.

"Don't be silly. Has she ever said she doesn't love you?"

"No, but I know she doesn't." I felt like a small child, yet somehow it felt good to air my grievances.

"Look at me." I looked at Miya, my eyes meeting her blue-green ones.

"Now listen to me, and think about what I'm saying. Would your mother want you to take over Team Rocket, her life work, if she didn't trust and respect you? Would she have spent all that money on a nice car for your birthday if she hated you?" Miya said.

"I suppose not," I said, not convinced. Miya smiled at me.

"Well, you've got me, anyway," she said, and to my surprise, she leaned her head on my shoulder and put her arm round me. I smiled back at her, and put my arm round her.

"You mean a lot to me," I said. God knows what prompted me to come out with that idiotic sentence. Miya looked at me, a small smile on her lips.

"I know," she said. For what seemed like forever, we sat looking at each other. Then slowly, without any qualms, I leant forwards and kissed her.

I awoke early the next morning with a jump. I remembered the events of yesterday with a sense of disbelief and decided I should go and find Miya before my mother sent her off somewhere, and apologise. I made my way over to the rooms that agents stayed in if they were at Headquarters, and found Miya's. The elite agents had their own rooms, so she would always be in the same one. I knocked on the door. Miya answered it, still in her dressing gown.

"Miya, I…" I began, but she smiled at me and pulled me inside before I could finish.

"You're up early," she said, and planted a gentle kiss on my lips.

"I wanted to see you before mother sent you somewhere. I wanted to apologise for yesterday," I said. A look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Oh?" she said. "What are you sorry for?"

"You know…I didn't mean for that to happen," I said. She laid her hands on my shoulders.

"Well when I said you should do something impulsive, that wasn't what I had in mind," she said. "But it's happened. I'm not sorry at all."

"Really? Then I'm not sorry either," I admitted. Miya smiled at me again.

"Good," she said, pulling me down a little so we could kiss. We hugged, and I was aware of a feeling of tranquillity that I hadn't felt for a long time.

"So…what do we do now?" Miya asked, her head still on my chest.

"That's a good question," I replied.

"It isn't going to be easy," she said.

"I know," I said. "We'll have to keep it from my mother, at least, for the time being. She'll be furious if she found out."

"Well at the end of the day it's none of her business, but I know what you mean," Miya said. "I'll have to tell Cal of course. And Xan. But both of them know how to keep a secret."

"How are we going to be able to see each other when you're away?" I asked. Miya looked at me and smiled.

"We can work something out, can't we? Maybe your car will finally come in useful," she teased. I grabbed her into a tight hug, making her squeal.

Miya and I somehow, miraculously, managed to keep our relationship secret from my mother. Perhaps it was because most of it happened away from home. Mother seemed to accept my frequent disappearances from home simply as visits to friends or just use of my car. She was too busy with her own affairs to care much about mine anyway. And as Miya was her best agent, she had no reason to question what she was doing on missions. We were still careful about how and where we met up though. Miya was completely different to Lauren even in a relationship. Lauren liked being bought expensive gifts, whilst Miya would scold me for doing so. I also had the sense that I was being truly cared for, a feeling that I never had with Lauren. The time I spent with Miya was the only time when I felt I was free from Team Rocket. I was someone else. For almost a year I felt that the cloud I was floating on would last forever. But, life being as it was for me, I was wrong. Miya happened to be at headquarters for a couple of days taking a break after a mission abroad. I hadn't seen her for almost a month because of it, so as soon as I could, I went over to see her.

"Hello," I smiled, giving her a kiss as I entered her room. She smiled at me, though I thought I could detect some nervousness. "How are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said.

"That's good," I smiled, putting my arms round her. "I've missed you," I said. She gave me another nervous smile, and put a finger to my lips.

"I've got something to tell you," she said.

"Oh?" I replied, taking hold of the hand the finger belonged to and kissing it.

"I'm pregnant," she said, simply. As if I had been electrocuted, I let go of her and stared at her.

"How can you be?" I asked, finding my voice.

"I don't know, but I am," she replied. "Accidents happen." We stood in silence as I tried to absorb the news. But the thought that came to my mind wasn't about the prospect of becoming a father. It was about my mother and what her reaction would be. And that made me do the worst thing I could have done in the situation. I panicked.

"Have you told my mother?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No. I'm going to go and see her soon."

"You don't have to tell her," I said. Miya gave me a strange look.

"Of course I do. She needs to reassign me for a while because I won't be able to do as much fieldwork."

"I mean, accidents can be corrected," I said.

"I want to keep the baby," Miya said, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"You can't," I said.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, look at the consequences. How are you going to explain it to my mother? What about your career? You can't do a job like yours with a baby."

"I know what I'm going to say to her. And as for my job, well, your mother had you and continued working, and she's done okay, hasn't she?" Miya retorted.

"I don't want you to have the baby. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Not while you're being so childish."

"I am not."

"Yes you are. All you can think of is a quick way out."

"It's the best way."

"Who are you to decide what's best for me?" Miya said angrily. I took a breath to calm myself then tried to calm her.

"Miya, I only want to protect you. You know what my mother is like when she's angry. You've heard the stories…" I said, reaching out to touch her face. She stepped back.

"Don't be so stupid," she snapped. "I know your mother better than ninety-nine percent of Team Rocket and I know she would have nothing of the sort done, especially to me."

"You can't rely on your position to get you out of everything," I told her, my voice also rising again.

"I have never used my status to help me in personal gain, and I don't intend to now," Miya said through clenched teeth. Her usually calm blue-green eyes were a dark storm. I had never seen Miya truly angry before, and I felt sorry that I was the cause of her anger, but that was less important than the matter at hand.

"How about you be a real man and come with me this afternoon and tell your mother exactly why I'm pregnant?" Miya said, somewhat tauntingly.

"You know I can't do that," I answered.

"Why?"

"You know why!" I cried.

"Well, fine, have it your way. I've taken care of myself for most of my life, I can raise a child by myself too," Miya said.

"What are you saying?" I asked, taken aback.

"If you don't want our child then you can't have me," Miya said. "Leave."

"But Miya…"

"I don't want to know. Just go." She turned her back on me. I reached out for her shoulder.

"You can't just brush me away like that," I said. Her reaction was like that of an enraged Persian. She whipped round and pushed me backwards towards the door, her face twisted in fury.

"I'll do what I want to do. It's too late to try and be nice. I know exactly how you feel, you've made that quite clear. Now get out of my room!" she yelled, tears springing from her eyes. I grabbed her wrists to stop her trying to hit me. If I hurt her physically she didn't let it show.

"I'm sorry," I said, but I knew the damage had been done. I let her go and left the room, trying to make sense of things.

Miya didn't go to see my mother until a couple of days later. She was right about the treatment she received – mother took her off fieldwork straight away and reassigned her to the laboratories and instructing trainees. Mother seemed to survey me with suspicion when she asked if I had heard about Miya's pregnancy, but I think it was more to do with the way I was under whelmed in my response. A few days after Miya and I had our argument, I was standing talking to Xan outside the training gym.

"You can't just pretend its not happening," Xan said.

"I know Xan. Under other circumstances I'd be happy, but under these circumstances I just can't," I replied.

"You can still be involved in the kid's life," Xan said.

"I don't think Miya wants that. Not after the other day."

"Well she's still pretty upset with you, but I've never known Miya ever refuse to talk to someone ever again."

"I've never known Miya to get that angry."

"It doesn't happen very often, but I've seen it before. Give it another day then go and see her," Xan said.

"And say what? We'll never agree on anything. She wants me to tell my mother. I can't do that. Not yet, anyway," I said.

"She does have a point, Gio. Nothing stays hidden from your mother forever, and it'll be a lot better if you tell her now rather then have her find out in a few years from someone else," Xan said. "I mean, it's not like she can send you to your room now is it?"

"It's not me, it's what might happen to Miya," I said.

"Miya's a tough girl, you know that," Xan said. I sighed.

"Giovanni!" We both turned round to see Cal marching up the hill towards us at a fair speed. I could tell from his body language that he was not happy. Cal didn't slow down as he approached us, instead he marched right up to me and stopped. I waited for him to say something, which he did with his right fist. Fortunately I managed to react quickly enough to move so that it was only a glancing blow, and then had to defend myself as Cal tried again. Xan pulled us apart.

"That's enough," he said.

"Bastard!" Cal yelled at me. "Do you know how upset Miya's been? She's been in tears because of you."

"I didn't want to upset her," I retorted.

"It's all great fun and games for you until some responsibility comes along, isn't it?" Cal snarled.

"It's not like that. And frankly it's none of your business," I said.

"When something happens to Miya I make it my business," Cal retorted. "I told her something like this would happen when you got together. I was right."

"Well good for you," I told him. Cal was incensed and tried to hit me again, only to be held back by Xan.

"Cal, leave it. None of this is helping Miya," he said. "It's been as much a shock for Gio as it has been for the rest of us."

"I can't believe you're defending him!" Cal exclaimed.

"I'm not taking sides in this. All I care about is Miya, not attributing blame to anyone," Xan replied, evenly. Cal glared at Xan, then me before releasing himself from Xan's grip and marching off back down the hill.

"Thanks. That man's always had a problem with me," I said. Xan gave me a look.

"Just because I stopped Cal taking a piece out of you doesn't mean I think you're in the right," he said. "Anyway, I'll speak to you later. I'm supposed to be meeting Dahlia."

"Okay," I replied, watching him stride off in the opposite direction to Cal.

Moving into the Viridian City Gym I suppose came as a blessing. It took me away from the headquarters and mother, and also away from Miya. Not that I wanted to be away from Miya, just that I thought it would be better for us to be apart. Besides, being a gym leader helped take my mind off a lot of things. When they gym finally opened, business was great. The demand by trainers to battle for a badge was huge, and even took my mother by surprise. I won the first six matches easily, and almost won the seventh, but lost it by the smallest of margins to some smart-arse brat. It was also nice to have the gym serve as a base for Team Rocket – it meant that I effectively had lots of Pokemon to choose from, all kept in one of the secret rooms beneath the gym. Although it meant I had regular contact with my mother over the phone, I didn't have to see her all that much, and therefore didn't feel under any pressure. She trusted me enough to leave me alone to do things by myself. Sometimes she needed me over at headquarters, so one of her agents would take my place for a day or so. Usually it was Xan or another elite agent, but to my surprise on one occasion, Miya turned up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"There was no one else available to look after the gym and your mother thought that I would welcome the opportunity to come and see you," she replied.

"I suppose it has been a while," I said. Miya hung her coat up and looked at me.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" she asked.

"I haven't," I denied, noticing the faintest evidence of a bulge in her tummy where the baby was growing.

"You never come and see me when you're over at headquarters," she said.

"I don't have the time," I said.

"You manage to see Xan if he's around," she said, not quite hiding the annoyance in her voice. I took a breath, closed my eyes and opened them again, then spoke.

"Look, Miya. I'm just not ready to be a father."

"I've kind of worked that out from your behaviour," she retorted. "I'm sorry Giovanni, but you need to…grow up. You're acting like a spoilt brat with half a brain, which isn't what you are. Now, what do I need to know about the gym?" Her words though they were not spoken harshly, stung. Instead of arguing back however, I did as she requested and filled her in on aspects of the gym, such as where the Pokemon and badges were kept. Without further ado, I left her to it. I still did not see much of Miya throughout the rest of her pregnancy, and when I did it was awkward. I knew deep down it was silly, but I kept convincing myself that what I was doing was for the best. However, when I heard that the baby had been born, curiosity got the better of me, and I went to see Miya the day after she came home, hoping that I wouldn't meet Cal whilst I was there. Nervously I knocked on the door, wondering what the reaction would be.

"Come in," Miya said, pleasantly enough. I entered the small suite of rooms, noticing several congratulatory cards on a shelf. "It's a girl!" one of them proclaimed loudly. A girl. So I have a daughter.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to come or not," Miya said, interrupting my thoughts.

"It is only right that I should," I said.

"You didn't want anything to do with her whilst I was pregnant," Miya replied, with an air of disbelief.

"Can I see her?" I asked. Miya nodded, and disappeared into the next room. Her attitude surprised me somewhat. So far she had expressed no anger whatsoever. I hadn't really expected to be let in. Miya returned, carrying the baby wrapped up in a blanket.

"Your daughter," she said, placing the baby in my arms before I could do anything else. I looked at the baby, unsure of what I was supposed to do. I hadn't expected her to be so tiny. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me when I saw that she looked like Miya, rather than me.

"She has your father's eyes," Miya said.

"Really? How can you tell?" I asked.

"I have a photographic memory when it comes to people and Pokemon," Miya replied. I took her word for it. There was an awkward silence.

"Does she have a name?" I asked.

"Yes. Jessica Violet," Miya told me. In my mind, I screwed up my face. Jessica's had a tendency to be bitches.

"Oh," was all I said. "Musashi?"

"Of course. It could be Sakaki, but then, you wouldn't want that, would you?" I didn't reply. I looked at the baby – Jessica – again. My decision had long ago been made.

"You know I can't accept her Miya, not yet, anyway."

"Damn your mother, Giovanni," Miya snapped.

"It's not just her…" I began, but Miya interrupted.

"Look, if you're not willing to be Jessie's father, then fine. I want you to keep right away from her. No birthday cards, no Christmas presents. I want Jessie to have a real father, not some shadowy figure." She took Jessica out of my arms, and I knew that it was time for me to go.

"Take care of her, Miya," I said, as I opened the door.

"Your father would be ashamed of you," came the short reply as I stepped outside. The remark was meant to sting, and it did. I forced back the tears that pricked the back of my eyes as I shut the door and shut out what should have been the most important people in my life.

* * *

It was not as bad as I thought it would be, not seeing Jessica. That is not to say that I didn't care for her, but because I lived in Viridian City, away from Team Rocket's main operation base, I just became detached from it all. Even if I went to see my mother, that was no guarantee to see Jessica, for I learnt from Xan that if Miya was to go away, she would leave Jessica in the care of some people she knew. Xan said that Miya was very secretive about it, even with him. When I did see Jessica, it was usually from a distance. It became clear that she viewed Cal as her dad, although I knew that Miya insisted that Cal was "uncle". Cal, if he saw me nearby, would exploit the fact that Jessica adored him.

"She's a beautiful little girl, Gio," Xan told me, on more than one occasion. The strain of trying to be friends with both Miya and myself was a lot on Xan. I knew he wished that we could be friends again, but for me, at least, it wasn't that simple. Besides, I was kept busy by my mother, and therefore didn't really have time to dwell on things. Mother didn't really ask any questions about Miya or Jessie, much to my relief. She obviously didn't suspect anything. But someone else eventually did. Stefan. We were both by ourselves, having a conversation about various things.

"I saw Miyamoto the other day," Stefan said.

"Oh?" I replied.

"She had her little girl with her. She's a cutie, isn't she?"

"Yes. Miya's very proud of her," I said, trying to remain nonchalant. Stefan nodded and took a sip of his drink.

"Not like you," he said, almost casually. My heart leapt into my mouth.

"What do you mean?" I asked, as calmly as I could.

"Jessie's yours, isn't she?" Stefan said. I struggled to answer.

"I…" was all I could manage.

"Don't worry, I won't mention it to your mother," Stefan told me, seeming to enjoy watching me squirm. "I'm under the impression that she doesn't know."

"How did you know?" I managed to ask.

"Just little things over the past couple of years that I've noticed. The fact that when I asked Miya if you were Jessie's dad, she got rather angry…that clinched it," he told me. I sighed.

"It is a rather touchy subject," I said.

"Tell me all about it," Stefan said, pouring me another drink.


	5. Part Five

**Part Five**

The next few years slipped by fast. The gym was doing well, although I knew that my mother was frustrated that the results were not coming in for Team Rocket as a whole. Hence I expected her to be in a somewhat foul mood when I paid her a visit, but I was surprised to find her upbeat.

"I think that we have a way to boost the business. So much so that we would vastly increase our power," she told me.

"How so?" I asked.

"Miya brought a report to me concerning the whereabouts of the pokemon known as Mew," she said.

"That's just a story, isn't it?" I asked, trying to remember the tale my father had told me when I was a child.

"I have evidence to suggest otherwise," she replied, in her usual confident tone.

"How are you going to get it then?" I said.

"I'm sending Miya and Cal to South America to locate and capture one," she said. "They will be setting off tomorrow."

"You're sending Miya?" I exclaimed, unable to help myself.

"She's my best agent, and I trust her to be able to complete the mission safely," Mother replied.

"But what about Jessie? It's not fair to keep her mother away on a dangerous mission for what could be months," I said.

"Miya understands the situation," she said, in the way that meant that I wasn't to question her further.

"You mean you've forced her to go," I pressed, undeterred. Mother looked at me, a warning look in her eyes, but when she spoke, her voice was controlled.

"She is employed to look for and gather information about pokemon. She is not employed to sit at home," she said. I did not ask anything else about the matter, but instead went to see Miya that evening. I hesitated before knocking. When she opened the door, she couldn't hide the look of surprise on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I want to talk to you," I said.

"You'd better come in then," she replied, standing aside. I went and sat on a chair, Miya settling on the sofa opposite.

"My mother says that you're going to South America to look for a Mew," I said.

"Yes. What of it?" Miya replied.

"It's far too dangerous," I said.

"Perhaps, but there has always been an element of danger throughout my career," she said, mildly.

"This is different. You have Jessie to think about."

"So now you're concerned about Jessie? This is a bit sudden."

"Please, Miya. I know that you don't want to leave her either. But I don't understand why you agreed to go." Miya pursed her lips.

"Isn't that obvious?" she said. "I did try to get out of it, but she wouldn't have it. Besides, I need the money."

"I can give you money," I said. "You only have to ask."

"As I told you before, I don't want your handouts," Miya said. I sighed.

"I'll try and talk my mother out of sending you if you want," I said. Miya hesitated.

"I would appreciate that," she said eventually. I nodded. There was an awkward silence.

"Well, I suppose I should go," I said, and got up. Miya rose with me.

"I know that things haven't been great between us recently, but I know that you'll do your best," she said. I turned to face her.

"I wish things were different," I said.

"They still can be," Miya replied. "Maybe we should talk when I come back." I hesitated, but then something made me nod my head.

"Yes, we should," I said. Miya smiled at me. I reached out and touched her face.

"I still love you," I said. She took my hand and held it between hers.

"I care for you, Giovanni, but I don't love you anymore," she told me. I closed my eyes briefly, but I knew that I shouldn't be surprised. With the way I had treated her and Jessie, I was lucky that she still wanted to speak to me.

"Well, if I can't change things, good luck on your mission," I said. Miya must have sensed my worry, for she held out her arms. We gave each other a tight hug.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," she said, though not quite with her usual confidence. I opened the door. It was time to go.

"Goodbye Miya," I said, giving her a smile.

"Bye," she replied, and returned the smile before disappearing back inside her apartment.

Despite practically begging on my knees, mother refused to change her mind over sending Miya to the Andes. I could see her logic in wanting to send her best field agent, from the professional side of things. But Miya had a daughter. Then again, mother didn't realise that Jessie was her granddaughter. Perhaps I should have come clean then, but I was still too afraid of what her reaction would be. And it probably wouldn't have made any difference. Still, some three months passed without incident. I thought that perhaps things would turn out okay after all, but then came the phone call I had been dreading. Miya and Cal had been killed in an avalanche. I was distraught, but though it was no more significant than my father's death, it was a different kind of grief.

After composing myself the best I could, I decided that I should go to the headquarters to see Xan, my mother and everyone else. It was the right thing to do. Besides that, I had to try and find out where Jessie was, and what was going to happen to her. Nothing could have prepared me for the atmosphere at the headquarters though. Miya had been very popular, and her death had affected almost everybody, including my mother, and especially Xan. He wept through the memorial service and was inconsolable for some days. I couldn't find anything on the computer records of where Jessie lived when Miya was away, so I went to the apartment where Miya stayed. To my surprise, most of it had been emptied, apart from a couple of boxes of personal possessions. I went through these, though not without a sense of guilt. I found a picture of Miya and Jessie in a frame. It was a recent one. I stared at the happy, smiling faces for a while then slipped the picture inside my jacket and resumed my search.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It was as if everything had been erased. Perhaps it was part of some procedure that I wasn't aware of. I decided to go and see my mother and see if she knew anything about Jessie's whereabouts. She was at work in her office, but these days she didn't mind so much if I showed up. She was busy doing some report, but greeted me with a small smile.

"How are you coping?" she asked, continuing to write. It was a genuine question, and I was a little surprised.

"I'm okay. I don't know about Xan though," I replied. She nodded.

"I've taken him off work for a short while," she said. There was a pause, then I asked her my question.

"Mum, what's happened to Miya's daughter?" I asked. My mother stopped writing and looked at me.

"Your daughter is with whoever Miyamoto sends her to when she goes away," she replied, as if I had asked her the time of day. My heart stopped, and I thought for a moment I had heard wrong. I managed to find my voice.

"You knew? How?"

"Everything gets back to me eventually," she replied, and started writing again. Her manner raised suspicion in me.

"You know where she is, don't you?" I said. She didn't look up, but said,

"You are her father. Surely you know yourself?"

"Miya never told me."

"Well then, that is your burden," she said. "Perhaps you should have been honest with me in the first place." The revelation that my mother knew the truth about Jessie, on top of my sorrow, was too much for me.

"Tell me where Jessie is," I snapped, bringing a fist down onto her desk. Mother stopped writing again, and glared at me.

"I will hear no more on the matter. That child does not exist as far as I am concerned. Isn't that what you wanted me to believe, that she was of no relation to me at all?"

"All the more reason to tell me where she is," I cried, leaning on the desk so that I was practically face-to-face with her. She remained unmoved.

"I forbid you to look for her. Now, if you've quite finished, I have work to do," she told me, candidly. Her reaction further incensed me.

"You killed Miya," I shouted, pointing at her. "You didn't intend for her to come back. Why else would you send her after a Pokemon that doesn't exist?"

"It exists, Giovanni. When you are feeling more civilised, I will show you."

"I don't care. Miya's gone and it's all your fault," I spat. If she hadn't been my mother, I would have gone for her. She looked me squarely in the eyes.

"Don't blame me for your own problems. Miyamoto knew the risks of being in Team Rocket, and accepted them. We all have to accept them, else there is no point in being here. And since you are in an unreasonable mood, I see little point in you being here." Again she picked up her pen. I glared at her, furious. She simply glowered back at me. Knowing that I had lost the fight, I turned round and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind me so hard that a small picture fell off the wall, startling Alison, her secretary. She must have heard almost every word that was exchanged. But I was unconcerned. I didn't care who had heard. I stormed out of the building to my car, jumped in it and drove off. I didn't care where I went, just so long as it was away from the headquarters.

I never hated my mother so much as I did at that moment.

I wondered how she found out, and when. I thought that perhaps Stefan had told her, but dismissed the idea. Stefan was above telling tales for personal gain. Then I decided that it must have been Cal. I knew he hated me. But he would never do anything that would compromise Miya. I shook my head. Perhaps my mother had simply guessed. She wasn't stupid. I should have known better than to try and out-manoeuvre her.

I found myself stopping at the cemetery. I got out of the car and walked through the graves until I reached my father's. It was very tidy, and there were some fresh flowers on it. My mother must have been recently. I knew that she visited whenever she could. I idly looked at the headstone. My father had only been forty-five when he was killed. Miya was only thirty-two. It didn't seem fair. This only added to the anger I felt, and I kicked out at a stray stone, sending it hurtling down the path. I wished that my father were still alive. I would have told him about Miya and Jessie, and he would have been able to keep in check any anger my mother had over the matter. He would have been able to stop her from sending Miya away. But, almost as if I could hear him talking to me, I knew that when all was said and done, it was only me who could do anything about my problems.

"If your mother thinks she can walk all over you, she will do. It doesn't matter who you are," he had told me. How I knew that at the moment.

"I was only trying to look after Miya," I sighed out loud. "I thought I was doing what was best." And look at how it had all backfired. I still didn't think it justified my mother's actions though, no matter how upset she might have been at her discovery. She must have sent Miya to the Andes to spite me. I doubted that I could ever forgive her. I stared at the flowers on the grave, thinking of my father and grandfather. It was then that I realised that I knew what would hurt my mother.

* * *

It was some two months later. I had finished business at the gym for another day, and retired to my living quarters. I had just settled down with a drink, when the buzzer told me that I had a visitor. I picked up the handset.

"Hello?"

"Hi Giovanni. You're not busy, are you?" It was my aunt.

"No, I'm not. Come in," I replied, and sighed as I replaced the handset. My aunt greeted me with her usual bear hug.

"I suppose she sent you over to talk to me?" I asked. My aunt's expression reminded me that she was, unlike my mother, quite sensitive about things.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. She nodded, accepting my apology.

"I actually came to visit you under my own influence," she said, as we sat down. "But I wouldn't mind an explanation as to why you haven't spoken to your mother for over six weeks?" My aunt had the same deep brown eyes as my mother; however, they showed a compassion that I rarely ever saw in my mother's.

"What has she told you?" I asked, guardedly. I had stopped all contact with my mother since the day we had had the argument about Jessie. For the first week, I heard nothing from her either, but when she did try to contact me, I ignored her. Eventually, she even came to Viridian City, to here to try and see me but I refused to let her in. She tried everything she could to try and speak to me, but it didn't work. Even though I was still angry with her, I had felt slightly guilty about isolating her from me, but I hardened my resolve. I would see mother when I wanted to, which wasn't yet. I knew that I was only still residing in and controlling the gym because she allowed me to, but that only demonstrated to me that she wouldn't harm me. Xan kept me up to date with developments within Team Rocket. I realised my aunt was speaking.

"Well, she seems to think that it's because you blame her for the death of an agent," she said.

"The agent was one of my best friends," I replied.

"Yes, she told me that you were close," my aunt said, sympathetically. "But that's not reason enough to stop contact with your mother."

"Miya had a little girl who was five years old. Despite this, and despite what I tried to tell her, mum sent Miya on a mission to the Andes," I told her.

"Your mother said that Miya wanted to go on the expedition," my aunt said. I sighed.

"That's true to some extent, but there were plenty of other people to choose from," I said.

"Where's the little girl now?" my aunt asked.

"I don't know. I assume she's still with the people who were looking after her when Miya was away," I replied.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Giovanni," my aunt said. "And I understand why you're angry, but please try and forgive your mother. If you talk to her, perhaps you'll find out the reasons why she sent Miya away."

"She did it to get at me," I replied, shortly. My aunt pursed her lips.

"I don't believe that for an instant. Your mother is no angel, but she does not carry out personal vendettas. Is this what it's all about? Because you're being childish if it is." My aunt's sudden anger surprised me, and I didn't reply. She continued.

"Your mother is very upset too. Do you think your father would be happy to see you both like this?"

"No," I admitted.

"You are the only living bit of your father that your mother has left. You're taking that away from her by doing this," my aunt said. I shifted in my seat. She had hit on the idea that I had thought of to hurt my mother. It sounded like it was working too.

"I don't have anything left of Miya at all," I retorted.

"Perhaps, but if there is anything to learn from the deaths of your father and Miya, it's that life is too short for stupid things," my aunt told me. "I'm sorry if that sounds like a cliché, but it's true." I knew in my heart that she was right, but I didn't feel ready to see my mother yet.

"Maybe I'll phone her later," I said, to appease my aunt.

"Good," she said.

Of course, "later" didn't necessarily mean that night. In fact, almost two years passed and I still hadn't seen mother. She had given up trying to contact me, and my aunt was frustrated at us both. I have to say, I was enjoying having a life away from Team Rocket. I had renewed my friendship with Jack, who had married Ella. She was currently expecting their third child. They didn't know about Team Rocket, but I had told them about Jessie, after adapting the story slightly. They were sympathetic. They were also impressed that I was the leader of the Viridian City gym. Apparently, I had gained a reputation as being a tough opponent, and trainers considered getting an Earth badge as something of a prestigious prize. Being away from Team Rocket also helped me come to terms with Miya's death. I did try looking for Jessie, but she had vanished into thin air. I hoped that wherever she was, she was safe and well. Who knows, perhaps one day she would walk into the gym as a Pokemon trainer. Not that I would recognise her. She certainly wouldn't recognise me. One evening, the phone rang.

"Giovanni." It was my aunt. She sounded upset.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"It's your mother…you need to go and see her," she replied.

"Why?"

"She's ill. She won't tell you herself because you won't listen to her."

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, half suspecting some kind of ploy.

"She's got cancer," my aunt replied. I felt a pang rise through me. I questioned my aunt further, but she was unable to give me any more answers. Clearly, if my mother's plight was genuine, she wanted to tell me herself. I debated over whether I should go or not. I decided in the end that I should. The hatred I had felt for her in the aftermath of Miya's death had subsided. It was time to swallow my pride.

The next day I made my way to the house I had grown up in. It felt nice to see it again after so long. I unlocked the front door and crept in. Mother didn't know I was coming. She wasn't in the living room, so I went to the study. Hesitatingly, I opened the door. She almost jumped out of her skin, but when she saw it was me, she recovered herself. We just looked at each other, then she spoke.

"Hello," she said, surprisingly softly.

"Mother," I replied, accordingly. She didn't look particularly ill, just a little tired. She stood up.

"I was just going to make myself some coffee. Would you like some?" she asked. I nodded, and followed her to the kitchen.

"How are you?" she asked, getting out two mugs and preparing the coffee.

"I'm fine," I said.

"How's the gym?"

"It's doing quite well," I replied.

"Yes, I'd heard as much," she said. She made the coffee and we sat down at the table. It felt like two old acquaintances meeting up and not quite being sure how to get going again. I realised that, despite my misgivings, I had missed her. I noticed that she seemed to have gained some fine lines round her features. She was in her fifties now. I broke the silence.

"Minty says that you're ill," I said.

"Did she tell you why?" mother asked.

"She said you have cancer," I replied. "But that's all." My mother placed her cup on the table and clasped her hands. I sensed that I wasn't going to like what she was about to say.

"I wanted to tell you the whole story myself. I wasn't sure whether you would come to see me or not," she began. "It's true that I do have cancer. I wouldn't make up some story to get you to see me."

"I know," I said, despite my earlier suspicions.

"I've been for tests, but the doctors have said that there is nothing they can do," she said.

"What do you mean? There's all sorts of treatments," I said, unable to comprehend.

"If you have certain types of cancer, yes. But in some cases, it's not possible," she replied. She was remarkably composed, but then, she always was unless she lost her temper.

"How long…"

"They're not sure. It depends on how fast it spreads," she interrupted. "It could be six months, or it could be a couple of years."

"What about work?" I asked.

"I will continue to work for as long as is possible. You will probably have to take over some of my tasks eventually…" she faltered, an unusual thing for her. "That's if you're prepared to do that," she finished. I found myself reaching out to touch her hands.

"Of course I am, mum," I said. She smiled at me, a warm smile. I finally understood why people were loyal to my mother. You just couldn't leave her. As much as you hated some aspects of her personality, there was something about her that kept you drawn to her. Even if I had still refused to run Team Rocket, even if I were not her son, I would have ended up being involved somehow.

Our reunion didn't mean that the past was forgotten, but we were able to put our differences aside. Mother managed to continue for quite some time until I began to take over things. First it was the odd meeting, then anything requiring long distance travel, then several other items. Mother clung onto managing the field agents for as long as she could. That had been her job since Team Rocket had formed when she was in her early twenties, and it was this, more than any other little thing, that she found hard to let go of. She continued to instruct me on how to cope with the underground world – who could be trusted, how to spot people trying to deceive you. Although in the end, I had taken on practically all her work, she wouldn't officially hand over control of the organization to me.

As far as the minions were concerned, they weren't aware that she was dying. Madame Boss ran Team Rocket, not her son. Only the very senior staff were aware of what was happening. Because my workload had been a gradual build up, I didn't feel particularly snowed under. I adapted as I went along. Mother would frequently have her say as to what I should do. It was almost always good advice, so I tolerated it. She was still the boss, after all. When she wasn't concerning herself with Team Rocket, she would spend time doing the things that she used to like doing before she was in charge. I think she found having so much time on her hands a little disconcerting at first, but she was a sensible woman, and knew that if she couldn't work, her time would be better spent elsewhere. So she would often go out for walks if she felt well enough, or reading on the not so good days. Gradually though, her illness began to take its toll, and she ended up spending a lot of time in her bed.

"Maybe you should go to a hospital for care," I suggested to her, as she swallowed some painkillers.

"I don't like hospitals. Your father couldn't make me stay in one, and neither will you," she replied sharply. Still, she allowed for a nurse and doctor to visit her, and for my aunt and I to look after her when she needed it, although we weren't to make a fuss. I watched over the next couple of months as she grew weaker, the illness stripping her of her beauty. For once I was glad my father was dead, for it would have broken his heart to watch my mother waste away like this. The only physical thing that did not change about her were her eyes. They remained as intense as ever, reflecting the fact that her mind was not failing. The doctor had told us that it wouldn't be long now. I think that she knew it, for when I next saw her, she seemed quite remorseful - at least, as close as I ever saw her to being so.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be the mother you wanted me to be," she said, sitting up in her bed with a book in her lap. The apology brought tears to my eyes, but I fought them back.

"Mum…you did what you had to do," I said, eventually. She motioned for me to come closer to her. I did, and she pulled me into a hug. She did something which she hadn't done since I was a little boy. She kissed my cheek and ruffled my hair.

"You know that I'm proud of you," she said.

"I know," I replied. She smiled at me, and for an instant, she was the beautiful woman she once was.

"I'm tired," she said. "I think I'll have a nap." She folded up her book, and placed it on the bedside cabinet. I kissed her goodbye, and left her alone. It was the last time I spoke to her. The next day, with my aunt and I at her bedside, my mother, the feared 'Madame Boss' of Team Rocket, passed away.


	6. Part Six

**Part Six**

There seemed to be an initial murmur of disquiet amongst the ranks of Team Rocket when it was announced that Madame Boss was dead, and that I would take over. With help from Trey, I was able to deal with it. Mother had instructed Trey to keep a close eye on me at first, and I had been told to pay attention to what he had to say. My mother's funeral would have been an Officer Jenny's dream. Several prominent members of the underground fraternity were present, not to mention various other legally dubious people.

"Your grandfather, your father and now your mother. Maybe this family is cursed," my aunt commented. I did not have time to dwell on the possibility, for I had to work intensively in the following days to keep Team Rocket going. Mother was well aware of how things worked, and had warned me that after she died, there would be a spate of rival gangs springing up, trying to undermine the organization. She was right, of course. Fortunately we came through it. I had been born to rule this underground world, and rule it I would.

After I had got over the initial unsteadiness of the first couple of weeks fully in charge, my aunt and I sat down to sort through my mother's things. It was a fairly straightforward task, as she didn't really have that much left, having got rid of a lot of stuff in the months before she died. I came across a small tattered looking box. Opening it, I found that it was full of old photographs.

"Those look like dad's," my aunt said. We began to go through them, my aunt picking out the odd one that she wanted to keep for herself. There was my mother holding me not long after I had been born, my mother in her wedding dress with my aunt, various pictures of Stefan and my aunt, including one of her cuddling Stefan when he was a baby – though I wasn't sure if it was her at first, as she had blonde hair.

"What did I think I looked like?" she giggled, when I showed it to her. We continued going through the pictures. There was a picture of my parents before they were married, my mother holding a female Nidoran in her arms. Then the pictures became just of my aunt and mother as young women, then teenagers, then little girls.

"I doubt that house is even standing anymore," said my aunt, referring to the rickety looking wooden structure that appeared in some of the photographs. I couldn't imagine how my grandfather had managed to bring up two children by himself, with hardly any money. I couldn't have done it. Right at the bottom of the box was a small tatty photograph. I thought it was my mother at first, but then I realised it wasn't. The ebony hair was poker straight and was a different style. The woman was sat on a bench, a little girl with brown hair sat on her knee. I noticed that the woman was about six months pregnant. I turned the picture over. There was a note on the back.

_Rosa with Minty aged about 2 years._

The woman had to be my grandmother. I realised that the baby she was expecting must have been my mother, and I stared at the photograph, transfixed by this snapshot in time, feeling strange that I knew what was going to happen after it, that shortly after the baby was born, the woman would leave her family, and the baby would grow up to be one of the most powerful crime bosses in the country. I showed it to my aunt.

"Is this your mother?" I asked, to confirm.

"Yes. I haven't seen this photo for years," my aunt replied, a strange mix of emotions on her face.

"Do you want to keep it?" I asked.

"No. No, you should keep it, with the others," my aunt said, giving me the photo back rather abruptly. My grandmother was something that was not discussed, as I had found out whilst growing up. My mother avoided the subject, and it seemed that my aunt, who was a tolerant person, was the same way. I looked at the photograph again, and then put it back in the box.

* * *

Some years passed. I expanded Team Rocket from a reasonably sized but tight knit organization to a sprawling global mob. I suppose that was where I first went wrong. To aid the expansion, I had done away with some of the processes my mother had in place to vet recruits, against the advice of Trey. I did a lot of things against Trey's advice nowadays. I believed that I should keep what I thought was useful from my mother's reign, but that I also needed to do my own thing. However, though I had inherited my mother's business sense, I just didn't have the same level of management skills she had. Team Rocket slipped, admittedly, from being a highly thought of - in the criminal world at least – business, to simply a 'good' one. This fact, combined with the loss over a few years of the people closest to me, and the level of stress I was sometimes under, gradually brought out my worst side. I was feared, as my mother was, but it was a different kind of fear. My mother had respect from absolutely everybody. I did not. The lower ranks would obey whoever was in charge, but the senior members of the organization, most of whom had served under my mother, would often disagree with me, simply I felt, because I wasn't my mother. So I replaced a lot of them. Another mistake. I ended up loosing all that experience they had gathered, plus I made them even more disgruntled than they were before. Because I had let any old thief into Team Rocket, I had destabilised the foundation of the company. I learnt the hard way that it's all very well being ambitious, but that ambition has to be focused. I was going to have to make the best of a bad situation. Trey had launched a stinging attack on me last time we had a disagreement. He was getting to be an old man now, but he had lost none of his grittiness.

"Nothing you can do will ever equal or surpass your mother's achievements," he told me in a rare flash of pique. I had been taken aback, for it had been a long time since anyone had dared to take an argument with me to such a personal level. But Trey's comment made me determined to prove him wrong. I went to the archives and took out all the files concerning Mew. I felt a chill run through me as I looked through pages of handwritten notes, made mostly by Miya. I pushed my feelings aside. Despite the personal connection I had to the file, I felt that here lay the answer to Trey's challenge. I didn't know at that moment what I was going to do exactly, but I knew that it would be something extraordinary.

"Sir."

"What is it?" I was busy reading the Mew files, and didn't really want to be disturbed.

"I have someone who would like to meet you," the agent said. Behind him, a Meowth entered the office. On two legs.

"That's a clever trick, but what use is it?" I asked.

"It'll be very useful to you, boss." My jaw practically hit my desk as I realised that the agent hadn't spoken. The Meowth had.

"Sir, he wishes to join Team Rocket," the agent said. I looked at the Meowth.

"Dat's right!" he said, with what passed for a smile. I dismissed the agent, and looked at the Meowth, unsure of what I should do. My mother would have loved this, I thought.

"So, why do you want to join Team Rocket?" I asked.

"To get rich," he answered, jumping onto the desk. Well, at least he was honest.

"And how do you believe you can be useful?"

"My mind's as sharp as my claws, boss," he replied, cheerily. "I know da way of da streets." He promptly launched into his life story, telling me about his time in a gang of Meowth's. The character he showed made me warm to him. Plus he was a Meowth, one of my favourite pokemon. I decided to let him join us, though I had him sent to the labs to be thoroughly checked over to make sure he wasn't carrying any kind of device that would show he was some sort of bizarre plant sent by another gang. After that, he became a constant companion, much to the chagrin of my other Meowth – an offspring of the Meowth I had found injured – so much so it evolved into a Persian. I gave both as equal amounts of attention I could, but I have to say, the inane chatter of Meowth soon began to wear thin after a couple of months. I decided that I should give him a job. He wasn't a stupid creature, and seemed to like mingling with other personnel, particularly the agents. So I began to send him to help out in various areas, which he seemed to enjoy, and kept my Persian contented.

* * *

A short while later, I was sat in my office browsing through the profiles of the latest batch of recruits. Unlike my mother, I rarely dealt with such things myself, but I had allowed Tony, the man who was in charge of processing new recruits, to take a short break. So it was another lot of boring paperwork for me to look at. Most of the lower ranked agents all looked the same to me these days, there were that many of them. I opened the next file. The photograph of the young girl that stared back at me shook me out of my boredom. There was something very familiar about the girl smiling back at me from the mug shot. She looked almost like…like Miya. I shook my head. It hadn't been the first time I'd seen her image on someone else's photograph. The smile that had been on her face the last time I had seen her still haunted me. I lifted up the picture to look at the personal details underneath.

Surname: _Musashi_

Forename(s): _Jessica Violet_

Date of Birth: 26.11.80 

For the second time my heart stopped. It was too much to be a coincidence. I looked at the photograph again. I stood up, with the file in hand, and made my way out of the office, out of the headquarters, and back to my home. Once there, I found the framed picture of Miya and Jessie that I had taken out of Miya's apartment all those years ago. I compared it to the photo on the file. There couldn't be any doubt. The girl who had just signed up for Team Rocket was Miya's daughter. And mine. I sat in the chair, not knowing what to do. Then I grew suspicious. Why had Jessie come back to Team Rocket, the organisation that cost her mother her life? Was she after some sort of revenge? I then thought that I should reject her application and send her on her way. But I was curious to know about where she had been for what was almost twelve years. I wanted to know who Jessie had become. Besides, if I sent her away, that would make me as bad, if not worse, than my mother. I made my way back to the Headquarters, and summoned Xan. Sometime after I became the boss, I had placed him in charge of training agents. I showed him the picture.

"It's Jessie," I said. He looked at the picture, then looked back at me, stunned.

"So it is," he said.

"I don't know what to do," I admitted. "Do you know anything about her?"

"To be honest, Gio, I've hardly seen her. She was picked up along with some lad about the same age on the outskirts of Viridian City," he replied.

"Can you try and find out more?" I asked.

"Well…can't you?" Xan replied.

"Oh come on, Xan. If I have her in here for a chat, it'll just look odd. People don't tell their boss things about themselves, anyway," I said.

"People tell their father things," Xan said. I shot him a look.

"I'm not going to tell her," I said.

"Why not?"

"I can't say 'Welcome to Team Rocket, Jessie. By the way, I'm your dad,' can I? Imagine the effect that would have on her."

"I know that, but are you going to tell her in the future?" Xan asked. I sighed.

"I don't know. I want to get to know her first."

"I suppose that's reasonable enough," Xan said. "What if she asks about Miya?"

"Miya's a different matter. She can have all the information she wants on her mother if she wishes," I said. Xan nodded.

"Well, I'm taking her for a training session tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how she goes," he said.

"Thank you," I replied.

"At least you know where she is now," Xan said.

"Yes. A strange twist of fate, isn't it?" I said. Xan grinned at me, before leaving the office.

Over the next month, I learnt about Jessie. I secretly observed her during some of her training. She wasn't as talented as her mother was, but she still had above average skills in handling Pokemon. However, she was just as spirited as Miya had been, and wouldn't let herself be down for long. Unlike Miya though, she had a ferocious temper, which I suppose I'd have to admit, reminded me of myself. Jessie's vivid blue eyes were the same as my father's, and therefore gave off the same intense glare he could if he was angered. Coupled with a rage only my mother could have matched, she made a terrifying spectacle, surprising for someone who was not quite seventeen. I learnt that she had spent some time at the Pokemon Tech, though it was not successful, and afterwards she had been in some gang. God knows what else had happened to her as she was growing up – Xan said that she seemed reluctant to talk about her past, and made no reference to her mother whatsoever. I doubted the boy she hung around with knew much about Jessie's life, either. James, as he was called, was somewhat of an oddity for Team Rocket. He had obviously come from a very well off background – takes one to know one – and was of a gentle disposition. My mother would have sent him on his way if he had tried to join in her time. James seemed reluctant to get his hands dirty at first, but as he seemed to follow Jessie's lead, he pitched in with the same level of enthusiasm she had. Soon they were out on their missions. The first few were quite successful. I never sent them on anything that would be too dangerous, for I did not want to loose Jessie as soon as I had found her. Unaware of the reasons for my decisions, they carried on, quite happily. I thought that they would be the ideal team for Meowth to be with, so I assigned him to work with them. They hadn't been together for very long when the three of them came to my office at Viridian City, quite jubilant.

"Sir, we think we've found something interesting," Jessie said. She was usually the spokesperson for the trio.

"And what's that?" I asked, keeping myself unemotional. They knew that they weren't in my good books at the moment for their part in causing the Viridian City Pokecentre to be destroyed.

"A really powerful Pikachu," Jessie replied, enthusiastically. My gut feeling told me that this was the beginning of a road to nowhere.

"A Pikachu?" I said.

"It was responsible for blowing up the Pokecentre," Meowth said. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes in disbelief. I was currently residing in the gym because it was the start of the new Pokemon battling season, and the usual influx of trainers were wanting their Earth badge. The explosion at the Pokecentre had happened one evening two days ago when I was, of all places, in the bath. Being only round the corner from the centre, the tremor caused by the explosion caused the whole gym to shake, making me wonder if there was an earthquake, so I had leapt out of the bath, put on my bathrobe and looked out of a window, only to see flames coming from the Pokecentre and fire engines rushing to the scene. Fortunately there was no damage to the gym, but when reports on the news suggested that Team Rocket had been involved, I instantly issued an investigation. The event was far too close to home for comfort. Jessie, James and Meowth had handed themselves in, and after a reprimand, I had sent them out again. They hadn't mentioned the Pikachu at the time, but something had obviously made them think again.

"Well, what are you suggesting?" I asked. They looked at me, slightly surprised, as if they expected me to be jumping up and down with excitement.

"We think that it could be a useful asset to you in the laboratories and the organization as a whole," Jessie said. I sat back in my chair and considered things. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for them, and though I doubted that a Pikachu was capable of blowing up a large building by itself, a use would be found for it. I looked at the three of them, who were waiting for my answer. Jessie had the same look of anticipation on her face that her mother used to have when she was expecting something.

"Fair enough, go and capture it then," I said. They were obviously delighted, but remembering that they were in front of the boss, they kept themselves restrained.

"Thank you, Sir. You won't be disappointed," Jessie said, as they left the office.

If I had known that six months later they would still be after the damn thing, I might have reconsidered. For whatever reason, they had lost their early successfulness. On the other hand, it kept Jessie safe, and they were so determined to get this Pikachu that I just let them get on with it. I would reprimand them when they needed it, but avoided making the punishments too severe. A pay cut was usually enough, or some menial task. In the meantime, I was making good progress with the Mew project. I had sent a team to South America to look for more clues. Part of me hoped that they would find Miya, but I knew that that was improbable. I took out the photograph of Miya and Jessie, from happier times. I sighed as I studied Miya's face, comparing it to Jessie's.

At least one of them had come home.

**The End**


End file.
